Drop Into Hell
by Crimz0nCha0z
Summary: the events of Reach leave 3,4 and 6 alive to fight in new mombossa with the odsts and eventualy return to reach. SixXRookie in later chapters. rated R for language and Violence. RnR
1. Escape from Reach

Ok so let me clarify, that even though there is minor fluff between Six and Four in this chapter that it is a ROOKIExSIX fic... there aren't too many of them out there, and I really like them as a pair! So here is the first chapter... HOPE YOU ENJOY~~~ also I know that what happens with Halsey is different then what happens in this chapter... but please don't flame! I needed to change it around! R and R please!

Six looked around at the bloodied and cracked earth of reach. She wanted to scream in rage at the once beautiful world being destroyed at the hands f the covenant scum. She felt a deep sadness as her last remaining teammate trudged along beside her, panting and clutching his chest. It had been two days since the elite Zealot had stabbed him through the chest. Two days since he saved her from death. And two days of endless, aimless walking as they headed towards castle base. They were so close to castle. They could see the stop of the base. Maybe another hour of walking and they would be off of the doomed planet.  
>Emile stopped suddenly and clutched for his knife, grabbing Six and holding her closely he looked around frantically. "Keep close Six... I think I just picked up hostiles..." he said quietly as to not alert anything if there was anything near.<br>She nodded slightly, feeling naked without her helmet. It was on her hip, useless with all the cracks in it. She sighed and they began a slow jog towards Castle Base.

Upon reaching Castle Base they gave a sigh of relief to see the pelican Jun and Halsey had taken was still landed, preparing to take off to one of the remaining UNSC frigates still in the atmosphere. They boarded and the pelican took off, leaving Reach behind.

3 weeks later

Six sighed in relief as she soaked in a hot bath. As soon as she and her teammates had boarded The Saratoga, the Spartans had been immediately put into stasis until they arrived at earth. At first they had randomly slip space jumped as was the Cole Protocol. Then made their way to earth. She sighed again as she wiped her face with a cloth. Emile was currently in the medical bay being treated for his energy sword wound, thankfully when he was stabbed the heat of the sword had cauterized the wound. Six had done what little she could to patch it up. And Jun was probably out somewhere fixing his sniper rifle. They had talked very little since arriving on earth. They had set town in Kenya. Tomorrow Lord Hood wanted to talk and completely debrief the 3 Spartan III's. Six got out of the tub and let it drain as she grabbed a towel and wiped steam off the mirror to look at herself. She had cold, terrifying, ice blue eyes, strawberry blonde hair that looked more pink than anything that fell to just under her ears, very pale skin, a thin scar that slid from the top of her left eye across her nose and ended at the bottom of her right eye, and a thin scar that cut across the right side of her full, pale red lips. She ran a hand through her wet hair and put on her underwear, black cargo shorts, and a black tank top. She walked out of her room and waited by the medical bay for Emile. Recalling the last few days on Reach, she began tearing up. She remembered screaming in agony as she watched the Long Night of Solace slip away, taking Jorge with it. She remembered the Rage that boiled her blood when Kat had been shot down. And the heart retching sadness and respect as the Commander plunged his pelican into the scarab to allow herself and Emile to pass safely. And then there was the horror as she watched the Zealot stab Emile. She had rushed up to the cannon and destroyed the super carrier allowing the Pillar of Autumn to escape safely. Then running to Emile's side and crying with joy as he made a joke that her shooting was off.  
>Now she waited patiently to find out whether Emile would live.<p>

Emile's POV (srry haha... switching to POVs just to give it a try U.U )

I groaned in pain as I sat up and clutched my aching head. Looking down I noticed the hole in my chest was all healed. I sighed in relief and swung my legs off the medical table, much to the nurse's complaints. I blew her off and got dressed in the uniform that was laid out on the table beside my bed. Looking around my eyes fell on the door. I briskly walked out and was met by a very enthusiastic hug from Six. She smiled up at me and I could have sworn she had been crying, judging from the redness in her eyes. She inspected me, carefully placing a hand on my chest to make sure that there wasn't anything wrong with me anymore.  
>"Hey, Six. I'm fine now. Really. Thanks allot... for not giving up on me..." I said awkwardly as I rubbed the back of my neck.<br>"I'm glad I did what I did Emile..." She said softly. "I don't know if I could have lived with myself if I let you die... especially considering I could have saved the rest of them..." she choked out, all the built up emotions coming out at once. However, being the steely one she is, she quickly composed herself and straightened. Clearing her throat she began walking down the hallway of the small base towards the mesh hall. "Come on. I'm sure you're hungry." She said as my stomach gave a growl. I chuckled and followed after her.

When we sat down at a table and began eating Jun appeared and sat beside Six, sighing and looking at me he frowned. "What happened to the Commander...?" he questioned sadly, his eyes filled with unsaid questions and longing. Six sighed and put her head in her left hand.  
>Well... you know what happened to kat and Jorge..." she started as he nodded. "Well... while we were taking that damned fucking AI to the Pillar of Autumn... there where technicalities." She shook her head and slammed a fist on the table, startling a group of marines behind her. "A scarab was blocking our way... and Carter took it out... with the bird he was flying..." she gritted her teeth and swore. "He saved us... but I could have stopped it... I could have prevented him from dying." She got up abruptly and stormed out of the room, a few marines ran out of her way as she passed, not wanting to be the subject of which she took her rage out on. I sighed in sadness, remembering how much she cried after the commander died. I had never seen her break before. Never even known that she felt anything for any of us. Jun let his head fall against his chest as he thought. I got up and went to my room, wanting this day to end. Wanting to fall asleep and never wake up again.<p>

Six's POV

I sat in bed, looking at the plain ceiling. I hadn't been able to fall asleep and it was nearly 0600 hours. Almost time to meet with Lord Hood. I dreaded that. The sky only knows what he would say to me for not helping the rest of my team. I slammed a fist into the beds headrest and broke it in half. I'm a fucking hyper Lethal Vector and I can't even stop my own team from dying... I got out of bed and suited up, feeling vulnerable with my armor being off for so long. I stalked out of my room with my shoulders hunched and walked into the gym. I began stretching, and then went for a run.

I sat in a chair and waited for Hood to address me. He was currently looking over a data pad that was packed with information. I shifted awkwardly as Emile and Jun sat on either side of me, both clad in their armor. Emile's was flawless. Fixed by the techs I guessed. I rolled my shoulders and stiffened as Hood turned towards us, setting the data pad down and clearing his throat. He stood up and folded his hands behind his back, looking us over with sharp eyes.  
>"It has come to my attention that, after the events on Reach, you three are the last remaining members of Noble. Would you care to explain what happened? And don't spare the details. I want to know everything." He said as he looked at each of us in turn.<p>

After what seemed like ages Lord Hood finally released us and sent us to relax. I rolled my shoulders and walked into a room where a bunch of marines where gossiping. I rolled my eyes but listened anyways.  
>"I hear that after Reach The Master Chief found some huge ring world called Halo..." the first said in a hushed voice.<br>"Yeah... apparently He and Cortana destroyed it... I heard it going around that they found us here..." the second said with a shiver. They looked in my direction and shrugged before walking away. I pondered this information for a few moments before I walked to my room to get some more rest.

Emile's POV

I watched as Six walked into a room with a few marines, I decided to give her some space so I went out to the firing range and began working with my shotgun. Jun was beside me, firing his rifle at some targets farther away. I sighed, quickly becoming bored with firing practice. Throwing my shotgun onto a rack I walked into my room for a nap.

I awoke with a start and looked at the time on my visor, I had fallen asleep with my armor on, like usual. It was 3:56 in the morning. I groaned from the stiffness in my limbs from lying awkwardly. Sitting up I looked around, the unusual feeling of someone watching me was creeping up my spine. My eyes scanned my room until they fell upon the small form of a strawberry blonde beauty. I smiled softly as she shifted in her sleep. She sat against the wall across from the bed, her knees to her chest and her head in her arms. She must have been worried about me... I thought as I walked over to her and picked her up bridal style. She woke before I had straightened and looked into my eyes, through the visor. "We're going to be staying her until something for us to do comes up." She explained softly, resting her head against my shoulder, her eyes where blood shot.  
>"How long where you watching over me...?" I questioned, knowing that that was why her eyes were red and there where dark circles underneath them. She chuckled softly.<br>"You know me... I just fell asleep... I didn't want to disturb you, so I decided to wait until you where awake..." she yawned, then shifted slightly more towards me to curl up into my chest. I set her down on my bed and began taking my armor off. "You could have gone to sleep. I would have found you in the morning in any case..." I muttered as I went into my joining washroom and changed out of my under suit into a pair of boxers and a baggy muscle shirt. She shrugged before sitting up. I sat beside her and she hugged me around the waist, resting her head n my chest.  
>"C-can I stay with you tonight...?" she asked so quietly I almost didn't hear her. "I mean... i just... don't want to be alone right now..." she said sadly as i stroked her soft hair.<br>"Yeah. It's ok with me." I said reassuringly and smiled to myself. "But I have one request." I asked slowly. She turned her icy eyes towards mine.  
>"What might that be?"<br>"Through out this whole time, not once have you told me your name. Even though I've asked many times. I'm ju-"  
>she placed a finger on my lips and whispered very quietly. "It's Dante."<p>

Haaahaha ok the first chapter... please let me know what you think! :D I also wanna thank an author by the name of **CRAZYPSYCHOGURL **whom's fanfic Halo 3: ODST has inspired me to do this fic! Well please let me know what you think! I will hopefully update again within the week... and sorry if this is short too... but its just the beginning chapter! So REVIEW! And i'll see you later!


	2. The Mission

Second chapter... been really busy lately so i haven't been able to post a new chapter yet... so here it goes. And please don't mind my derp on the events... haven't had the mind to pick up ODST in a while and my mind is kinda foggy... so sorry on any mess ups you may find.

The sun was just rising over the horizon when Dante woke with a start from an uneasy slumber... and terrible nightmares. Nightmares that barely ever plagued her mind. But why now all of a sudden? She quickly pushed the thoughts out of her mind and got out of bed. The room was barely lit but she could still see everything, knew where everything was even. The door was slightly ajar and a steady stream of soft light peered in through the slight opening. There where voices outside, quiet ones.

"So it comes to this huh? Sending in a broken Noble team to help... ODST's? Are you insane? They just barely made it from Reach and now this is where you want to send them? Into a covenant infested city to help ODST's. Well that's just fuckin'' spectacular."

"What else do you suggest then captain? We have no other choice. Buck's down there. I thought we didn't abandon our own hm?"

There was silence for a minute before she heard footsteps leading down the hall. "Looks like another mission..." Dante mumbled to herself as she got suited up and looked around for her bag. Finding it missing she stepped out into the hall to see the medical rep coming down and he waved at her.

"Ah! Noble 6! I was just coming to get you. You're suit and things have been prepared for you in the armory section of the ship. If you would follow me please i will lead you to them." The man said nervously.

Dante nodded and began to follow him, her bare feet falling silently on the cool tiled floor. "Where are the others?" she asked, a slight irritated edge to her voice.

"Oh... um well they are already waiting for you. It seems that you slept in a little... i figured that after the ordeal you guys have been through that you could use the extra rest... I'm sorry if that upsets you." His face suddenly turning pale at the thought of Dante's wrath coming down upon him"

"No... Not at all. It's fine thank you." She said nothing else as they sped down the hall to the armory.

"Ahhh look who's finally up!" Jun exclaimed as Dante was whisked into the room by the medical rep.

"Yes yes... i know i slept in, shoot me why don't you." She glared at Jun, her eyes piercing into his soul and having a fiery glaze to them.

"Hehe... take it easy why don't you Six... I'm only trying to bug you."

"Bug me huh? Here we are about to go into another mission... here we are, living after what happened on Reach... what happened to our TEAM... and you're trying to BUG me!" Six's eye twitched, a vein bulging in her neck and she stepped forward, her fists clenched so hard that her knuckles where white. "I don't think it's FUNNY. Do you!" she asked, taking another step forward.

"Well of course not..." Jun said as he shrunk back, keeping a straight face.

"Then keep you're fucking stupid mouth shut for once." Dante snarled as she leaned against the wall by her armor and waited for instruction.

Emile couldn't help himself from letting out a little chuckle. 'what happened to the sweet innocent girl who wanted to cuddle last night i wonder... maybe the whole lot of it has finally came down on her shoulders... the loss of them all...? maybe I'll talk to her about it later...' he thought as he looked over his shoulder to see the door sliding open and the ship captain walking into the room.

"Good morning Noble team. I haven't had the time until now to come down and properly congratulate you on your survival. But that is short lived... i know you all suffered from loss and injury but the wicked do not rest... and therefore neither can we afford to. The battle may be long, but at the end is victory. And in that victory comes the revenge and peace for those we lost. I know it may be hard but i have come to assign your new mission to you."

'Lovely... i wonder what we're going to get saddled with this time... i hope it's not that pompous Master Chief...' Dante thought to herself as she stared intently into the captains deep set dark brown eyes.

"And also to assign new ranks to you remaining noble members. Noble 6. Congratulations, you are now promoted to the rank of Brigadier. Noble 4 to Lt. Colonel. And Noble 3 to Major. As for the leadership of your team... that will be assigned to Noble Six. Now. For your mission. You will be launched down to the planet earth, yes the main human colony planet. You will be going down in Orbital Drop Shock Pods. Just like the ODST's. I know it's not exactly your calling but to keep down appearances we need this to be as low profile as possible. When you arrive down on the planet your goal is to locate the missing ODST team comprised of Buck, Dare, Romeo, Dutch, Mickey, and the Rookie. Communications with them have been lost for the last few hours... and we are fearing for the worse. We need you three lucky sons of bitches to get down there and find them. Is your mission clear?"

They all nodded, a complete understanding of the mission flooding into their head. A baby sitting rescue mission. 'This is why... i hate ODST's as well...' Dante thought as she began to put her armor on with the help of one of the armor techs.

The armor was different somehow now that it was on again. No trace of the battle scars that Reach left on it. No paint chips, plasma burns, sword sashes. Not even a speck of dirt. No dent left unattended to. It was like a completely new set of armor. Even the cracks in the helmet where gone, not a trace of them left. And the most dreadful part was the lack of deep red and blue splatters that where so familiar upon it. Oh how the splatter of Covenant blood was missed upon its surface. It was almost poetic how the drops would dance and glimmer across the surface, weather it was across her visor or dripping down her Tacpad. It almost seemed bare and boring now without Reach's story etched into it... just another new face dropping into unfamiliar territory to write a new story. The greens and blues where more prominent now, the fade from the dirt and scratching gone. And the sapphire blue face plate immaculately clean. Just looking at the helmet was painful however... Air Assault. Just like... Kat's. The memory of watching Kat fall into her arms ran a shock of pain through Dante's heart. She was helpless in the moments of her teammate's death. And she hated it. She adjusted her left JFO shoulder pad before moving onto the right Jump Jet shoulder. When all was adjusted and set properly she made sure everything was in her Tactical Recon pouches, best chest piece around. She made sure that the mission clock on her HUD matched that of her Tacpad and moved on to securing her Trauma kit to her right leg. Everything seemed in order. Not a dent or spec of dirt in sight. Or blood... 'This suit used to sparkle with blood... it was beautiful... but it shall again... i can't wait to feel the crunching of a grunts head beneath my boots again...' Dante smiled deviously as the nostalgia of it ran through her. It would be fun being back in action knowing the planet wasn't so... doomed.

Now that everthing was in order and Dante and the others where finally set in their armor, the Captain ushered them into the launch bay. Three pods lay open and waiting for the three Spartans to enter and then be dropped down to earth.

Dante entered the first and turned her come onto Team Com.

"You boy's ready?" the only reply was 2 blinking green lights on her HUD. The universal thumbs up. The pods closed and the hatches dropped. The weightlessness of space taking over, followed by the pull of the ever unforgiving gravity.

'And so begins the Drop Into Hell.' Dante Thought with a grin.

FINALLY D: im so sorry that took so long to get up here to you guys! D": been super busy with everything and not inspired... and everytime i was inspired i was interrupted by one thing or another... my aunty just had surgery so i was helping her with that along with a few other things such as shool and my art. So here it is finally... hope it was worth the wait...


	3. First Impressions

Chapter 3.

An odd match.

So third chapter right after the 2nd! Oh ma gawd. I'm ona roll -u-"" well here we go... EMILE! DESCLAIM! :D

Emile: T3T Crimz0n doesn't own any characters or setting aside from her Noble 6.

NOW RIIIDE INTO THE OCEAN! :D

Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. She could feel it in her gut. Spartan sense if you would. A dreaded feeling in the back of her head, the bottom of her gut and in the tips of her fingers. The controls to the pod wouldn't respond to any of the commands. There had been an aftershock from the ships hyper space jump. It must have knocked the Nav systems out and all other control systems because nothing would respond. The ground was coming up fast and there was nothing she could do but brace for impact and hope that nothing broke the fuck out of her.

"SIX! We're going down to fast! There's n-"Emile's com broke off in a storm of static and dead air.

When she tried for Jun's there was nothing but dead air as well. A nice change she would have to admit... silence from Jun was hard to come by. None the less she would have to track them down if the Coms weren't working.

She squeezed here eyes and relaxed as best she could as her pod impacted hard with the ground, dirt and ash vault spluttered up around the pod like an explosion from a volcano. Everything went black as her head knocked hard against the front glass screen of the pod.

Rookie looked up to the sky as a high pitched whistling was heard. He traced it to a drop pod, falling fast, too fast to the ground below. There were here of them to be precise. All of them falling in a different end of the city. How fortunate... another bunch to add to the list of finding? Or where these new recruits meant to help? Either way the nearest pod looked as if it would land a few blocks away, he would find out soon enough. The pod hurtled over a few building and crash landed in a heap of ash vault and chunks of melted metal. He ran over and scanned the area with his SMG, it was clear... but from the look of splatter upon the pods surface it hadn't been moments ago.

"A fortunate landing... i suppose." He muttered to himself as he cautiously walked over to the steaming pod. Cracks and scorch marks littered the surface, but all things considered the pod was in fairly good condition still. That was good, because it meant that whoever was inside was probably still alive. Probably...

Rookie forced the opening hatch off of its hinges and tore it off, flinging it to the side and cautiously peering inside to see the damage. But what he saw made his jaw drop in disbelief. Not another ODST in this pod but a Spartan. A flippen Spartan. He couldn't believe it. Maybe there was hope for him after all. He looked the Spartan over and his eyes lingered on the Valkarie emblem in front of three planes. White wings, a black sword and blue planes. He had never seen this emblem before. Which means the Spartan was a stranger. One he had never even heard of. That could either be bad or good. Only time would tell. He grabbed the Spartan's wrist and hefted the Spartan out, taking care not to jostle them too much. He took note of the sapphire visor and caught a glimpse of the Spartan's face as the visor depolarized and adjusted.

Female for sure, unconscious another for sure. She was surprisingly heavy though so Rookie had to set her down carefully beside the pod before he did a sweet of the area. Everything was quiet for now. And quite frankly he didn't really like it. He would prefer to be around his teammates... to know they were alive and safe. But for now all he could do was wait for this Spartan to wake up so they could go looking for the rest of the team.

"Fucking hell... my head..." Dante swore as she slowly sat up and scanned her surroundings. She wasn't in the pod anymore. Someone had moved her and she didn't exactly like the thought of that. Her weapons lay in a neat line beside her however, all accounted for save for an assault rifle and a Frag grenade. She quickly got up and assessed the damage on her HUD. Nothing too serious. A bruised ankle and a slight concussion. Nothing to be worried about. She picked up her weapons, a Needle Rifle, Energy Sword and a DMR. Put them all in place before attaching her grenades to her belt. She then scanned around again on her motion tracker and picked up a slight movement north.

Quickly putting up her guard she tracked it down; silently she blended into the shadows and made her way toward the unknown target. Years of training instincts took over, she was either going to kill this unknown target or take it down for interrogation... if that was even possible. She held her breath as the target came into sight. Not a Covenant enemy like she thought... but an ODST. Most likely one of the team she was sent down here to find and help... she stepped out of the shadow and raised her DMR to his head.

"Don't move." She ordered.

'Shit... she's good... 'Rookie thought as he stopped dead in his tracks and lowered the stolen assault rifle. "Are you always this hostile to friendlies?" He asked as he relaxed slightly.

"How do i know you're a friendly?" she asked, a slight edge creeping into her voice. "After all, that is my gun you have in your possession. You removed me from my pod and took a weapon of mine. Thievery right there." She said matter of factly.

"I merely removed you for your comfort... i could have left you in there you know... not exactly good for your head injury. As for the assault rifle i merely borrowed it to scout so you're lazy ass could wake up." He remarked snarkily. "But i can see my help is not wanted here."

"Oh very Funny. I can tell by your arrogance that you don't know what you're dealing with, am i right? Nor do you know why I'm here or who i am?"

"No. Not exactly. So why don't you tell me then?"

"I am Noble 6, and myself and the rest of Noble team where sent down here to retrieve you and your team's sorry ass's." She said, her voice tinged with loathing.

"Well in that case i extend my gratitude to you Noble 6. I thought Noble died on Reach though..."

"Not exactly. I'm here now, aren't i? And if noble was all dead then i wouldn't be so you thought wrong."

"What do you mean... all dead? Didn't you all make it? After all i thought Spartans never die...? Or is that just some bullshit story ma-"

"It was a fabrication for the press and people. For moral. If a soldier couldn't die that meant more chance for the res to survive. But... nothing lives forever. Like my team. The last that remain are Myself, Noble 4 and Noble 3." Dante's tone was bitter, and angry, her fists clamped so tight on her DMR that it shook.

"You mean... the others are... dead." Rookie stated.

"As dead as Spartans get. 1 went down taking out a scarab so that 4 and i could get Cortana to the Pillar of Autumn... 2 was shot in the head by this very gun" she said as she hefted her needle rifle, "not by me of course... and 5... 5 gave his life to destroy a covenant cruiser... all for fucking NOTHING. Just as the bomb went off... more and more warped in... And then... we almost lost 4. So yes. The others are dead. But i am 100% determined to save you and the rest of your team. I refuse to let another group of good people get torn apart by the damned covenant scum." Dante's voice trembled with hate and rage as she finished.

"Well looks like we're on the same team then huh? I'm Rookie, by the way."

"Rookie huh? I can see that this is going to be the start to a beautiful friendship."

Chapter 3 is dooooone :D with a bit of a sad introduction to the 2 main characters but hopefully they will learn not to be so hostile and untrusting of each other. Right? After all their lives are in each other's hands.


	4. You Talk Too Much

Chapter 4.

You talk too much.

Disclaimer: i do not own any characters or settings aside from Dante and Rookie's personality.

OOOOooooOOOO

Emile kicked the hatch open of his drop pod and scowled. What a mess. Although he was uninjured his pod was damaged pretty badly. He gathered his gear and placed it in its according spots on his armor. There were no signs of Jun or Dante. And that worried him. He tried several times to raise them on Team Com without success. And even now it still refused to bring his teammates voices to his ears.

If any of them where around they would most likely be going to the Data hive. The main information objective. Just as he readied his shotgun a phone began to wring off to his left, on a wall behind some pillars. He cautiously walked over to it and picked it up. Suddenly a stream of information flooded across his HUD. And then a map. Showing friendly's in the area and also hostiles. No hostiles. But one friendly. That was a good sign. Maybe it would be one of the lost ODST's. Maybe then he could make sense of the situation and navigate around this barren shit heap.

He made his way north towards the friendly blip on his map, making sure to stay out of sight of passing covenant. He wanted to get to the friendly before engaging any hostiles. It would be most unfortunate to have the Covenant finding the friendly first so a low profile was best at this time. He ducked behind a destroyed car as a grunt looked over its shoulder and gave a high pitched sigh and continued walking.  
>"Dumb ass grunts..." Emile muttered and shook his head.<br>He ran across the street in a crouch run and spotted another pod some ways down the street and lodged into the side of a building. Grunt and jackal corpses lay next to it in what seemed to be a result of the pod crashing. The hatch was still on. Meaning whoever it was, was still inside the pod. Good. This just made his job allot easier.

Emile made his way over to the pod and gave it a yank. The pod door popped open with a bit of effort and a hiss. He threw it to the side with a clanging noise and he flinched at how loud the sound was. He waited for a few short breaths before he sighed and looked into the pod and almost screamed in rage. This was no one useful or even helpful in the LEAST. "C'mon... dammit it HAD to be YOU didn't it!?" He whispered in an irate tone as his shoulders twitched. "Get the fuck up Jun." He snarled as he forcefully removed Jun from his pod by his chest piece.

"Huh... wha? Did we crash or something...? Did anyone die or get injured? Why is it so dark out?"

"Would you shut your yap Jun. Holly fuck, you're such a big mouth." Emile snarled quietly and whacked him in the back of the head.

"Hey... that was uncalled for 4. You seriously think I'm going to listen to you if you're being such a dick?"

Emile's arm began to shake as he resisted the urge to smash Jun's faceplate in with his fist. "Shut. The. Fuck. Up. You moronic sniper. This a stealth mission and you're going to BLOW it. It's bad enough that we got separated from 6 AND crash landed. The last thing i need from you is disobeying orders or jeopardizing our position. So do me a favor and talk as little as possible or I'll make fucking damn well sure that you never speak again. You understand?" Emile's pulse levels elevated as he stepped closer to Jun, his fist raised and his body language that of a raging bear who just had his beehive stolen.

"C-clear Noble 4..." 'Man now that 5s gone 4 is so mean to me... I wonder if it's because he misses them...or if he ever liked me at all to begin with...' Jun thought as he looked after his partner. They had to work together if they were going to survive this. Even if they didn't get along, a team was a team no matter what... right?

Emile looked around and then brought up his map. There were several nav markers that pulsed on his HUD and he decided that they should head towards the data hive. Even if it killed him he was determined to finish this mission and find out what the hell happened to the rest of his team and the ODSTs. And possibly take out that idiot walking behind him as well. 'I fuckin hate him... so much.' He thought as he shook his head and started a soft jog towards the hive.

OOOOooooOOOO

"So I'm thinking we go to the nearest little blip thing on this map. Sound good with you?" Dante asked as she searched their surroundings for any sign of life.

"Eh that's where i was headed anyway i suppose." Rookie said as he shrugged and rolled his shoulders. "I don't care which way so long as we end up at the hive and find out what happened to the rest of my team..."

"Well that sounds good to me. I need to find 4 and 3 myself... so long as your route takes me to them I'm happy. And as long as we get to kill some Covenant scum too. I have a personal vendetta to kill each and every one i come in contact with. Especially the Elites." Dante said as she gripped her needle rifle tighter.

"Whoa. Wait. You mean you don't know about the truce of sorts with the Elites? We aren't fighting them anymore that i know of. Since Master Chief and The Arbiter kinda joined up teams..." Rook explained in a sort of know-it-all tone.

"WHAT?! You have got to be kidding me. Tell me you're just trying to fuck with me Rook. Because I'm not going to take that as an actual possibility... Elite's... their nothing but murderous monsters. There's no way i would ever team up or even consider working with them. Just so you're aware of this of course; if i see one I'll kill it." She snarled and shook her head as she turned to face Rook. "And I'm dead serious about that too. I'd rather take my own life before i work next to one of them."

"Whoa... sounds like you have real Elite issues... wanna talk about it?"

"NO."

"You sure..?"

"Yeah. I'm sure. It's just something i can never get over. Now let's get going before something finds us and caches us off guard okay?" Dante asked as she sighed in agitation.

"Yeah sure. No problem." Rook said as they started off towards the first nav point where there was hopefully a clue as to where their teammates where. 'She's obviously hiding something...' Rook thought to himself as they walked. 'And not something small either. But then again i guess she has no reason to tell me anything... she is a Spartan after all... and I'm an ODST... her past is filled with death from what I've heard about the 3s... but to what extent i wonder...'

OOOOooooOOOO

"Would you hurry up?" Emile said as he sauntered down a street and checked around the corner. "i doubt we'll find 6 at your pace. Alive anyway."

"Look im sorry but i just don't move as fast as you. Okay?" Jun said exasperatedly. "i wasn't exactly a runner in camp or the group you know. And you doubt 6? After she saved your ass? I'll have to tell her about that." Jun said in an arrogant tone as he cought up with emile and scanned the roof tops for any hostiles.

"You better not." Emile quivered with anticipation as a Jackal came into sight and spotted them.

"Haha. This ones mine." Jun announced as he took aim.

"Roght. Like im going to let you get a better kill score then me." Emile said as he ran out into the street and bashed the Jackals skull in withthe butt of his shotgun.

"Real mature Emile."

"i don't need to be mature. I just need to be bale to kill the covenant Jun." Emile said with a blank tone as he ran across to the other side of the road. "Sniper on the left side roof. Take him out and i'll take this cluster of grunts." Emile said as he primed a frag grenade and chucked it into the middle of them as a single sniper round was fired. The grunts looked confused for a moment before they where blasted into the pavment and building around them.

Little bits of grunt flew and splattered ont emile's boots as he laughed. "Aint nothin better then exploding grunts." Emile said as he looked back to Jun. But what he was wasn't exactly what he was anticipating. Two hunters rushed down from a side street and one lifted its shield to bash Jun. The words came out to slowly and Jun reacted slower yet as everything happened in the blink of an eye.

The shield came down.

Jun got hit.

He flew.

And then the second Hunter fired his cannon in Jun's direction.

: D MWHAHAHA . cliffhanger for you!

Don't be hatting the next chapter will be up shortly xD


	5. Let's just get outta here

Chapter 5.

Let's just get outta here.

Disclaimer: i dunna own any halo characters.

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A shockwave rattled Emile out of his stupor as he stared. Stared at the blackened armor around Jun's chest, the scorch marks around the building where he lay. The blast was only off to his left, maybe a half foot. He could feel the heat of the plasma as it burned into the ground and singed the air. He was frozen as he stared helplessly after Jun. Not knowing what to do. First Jorge, then Kat. Finally the Commander. And now not to long after that hellish time was this? Was another comrade going to fall in front of his very eyes without him being able to help? Not this time.

It wasn't going to end like this. Not so long as there was a gun in his hand and a beat in his heart. Emile got up to his feat and ducked behind a trashed car as another onslaught of plasma bombarded the area he had been only moments before. As the plasma hit debris flew up and scattered across the road, looking at the spot there was a crater. 'Well at least i moved...' he thought as the car suddenly flew up into the air, taking him along for a joy ride. The hunter, by what tiny glimpse Emile got as he tumbled in the air, had rushed the car and flipped it.

"SHHIIIIT." Was all Emile managed to get out before he collided with the wall of a nearby building, leaving a Spartan shaped whole in the side as he flew into it. He got back to his feet and looked around for his missing Shotgun. It wasn't in his arms and that made him feel utterly and completely naked. He ran to the opening in the wall and got a quick look around before a salvo of plasma was launched into the whole. He managed just barely to duck and dive out of the way. He hid behind a tipped over table for a few moments before kneeling in some ash and sighing.

"There's no way i can get to Jun without my shotgun... and i dropped it near the car before flipping... so... there's gotta be something else i can do.." Emile muttered as he drew out a map with is finger in the ash and circled his location, Jun's, and his shotguns. "Now... there's a back exit... that wraps around- oh! Hehe. Things just got interesting. A weapons cache. If i can get in there I'll be able to take the hunters out no problem!" Emile chuckled as he stood and looked back to the opening just as another shot of plasma flew in.

"OH CMON!" he screamed as he dove back behind the desk and sighed. "Fuckin asshole hunters..." He grumbled as he crawled on his stomach to the doorway and rolled to his feet. "Fuckin fat ass hunters..."

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"shhh... look up ahead. Hunters. Looks like their firing at a building..." Dante murmured to Rook as she gestured with her needle rifle.

"That's not like them... there must be something up there. Let's go and find out what it-"

"J-Jun... i can see Jun! He's not moving!" Dante said in a rushed whisper as she took off towards the hunters, priming a frag grenade and launching it in between the pair. They turned from the building and stared at her for a brief second before firing at her. she leapt out of the way and fired a full flip at the hunters, a few shards lodged into the soft worm like neck of the first hunter while the rest merely bounced off of the shield and flew all over the place. The few shards that landed exploded, spraying orange goop everywhere. The hunter reeled and shook its head before readying its cannon to fire again.

"Fuck... thanks for at least saying charge!" Rookie complained as he shook his head and ran into the street after her, tripping on something he fell to the ground and looked to his feet. "Ah... shotgun?" he asked as he stood and picked it up. It wasn't damaged at all so he clipped it to his back in exchange for his shotgun. He aimed at the second hunter's back and took a shot just as the first brought down its shield only a foot in front of him. He sprung backwards and fell onto his rear as he struggled to scramble backwards and out of the way. The hunter brought down his shield again.

Dante launched herself at the first hunter as it brought down its shield, just barely missing Rookie's left leg. She clung to his back and pulled out her knife, she raised her arm and brought it down, hard into the hunter's thick entanglement of eel like flesh. Right into its shoulder the first time, and again into its neck. Rook managed to get to his feet and shot the hunter in core, spraying more orange crap onto the ground. Dante jumped to the ground as the hunter raised its shield and swiped the air where she had been. It shook its head in rage and raised its massive gun as the second hunter came barrelling towards them, shield raised to clobber them. There was no time to react. It was just too sudden.

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Emile looked around the weapons cache. Not much here that he could really use. A few grenades, some ammo for a battle rifle, a couple of Mongoose, and a rocket launcher or two. No shotgun.  
>"Guess I'll have to make do with what i have here..." he said as he hefted a launcher and a few grenades. "Better get back and see what i can do to save Jun's sorry ass." He said as he ran back towards the area the hunters where in. He could hear them firing at something so he laughed quietly to himself. "Idiots must still think I'm up in that building or something." Just as he turned around the corner he saw one hunter raise its gun as the other came rushing to its side and brought down its shield. Emile caught a glimpse of green and blue armor along with another set of dark grey. He'd recognize that armor even if he were drunk out of his mind. That was 6. His partner and leader. Trying to fight a fucking hunter with her bare hands. There was no way she would be able to hold up against two of them. And her companion was knocked out by the looks of it. And... Had his shotgun! Emile ran up behind the first hunter and fired 2 rounds from his rocket launcher directly into its weak spot. There where sprays of flesh and blood as the Hunter practically exploded from the rocket impact. It went down without a second to waste. Now that Emile could see a little better he noticed that 6 was holding up the second hunters shield, her limbs trembled as she fought for control with the hunter. She wasn't strong enough however. It brought it up again and swung it down, she just barely managed to get out of the way as she ducked under a car.<p>

Emile franticly tried to reload his rocket launcher as the hunter, oblivious of him, advanced toward the car 6 hid behind. He just finished sighting the hunter as it fired towards the car, igniting it in white hot plasma. The engine in the car exploded and flew into the air, leaving 6 shaking her head on her hands and knees. Her helmet fell off and blood streamed from her nose and left ear. He fired both shots into the hunter but only landed 1 shot as it turned around to face him. The hunter fired another round at Emile.

He felt the plasma burn into his armor as it hit his leg. He wasn't fast enough and this drawn out battle was taking its toll and sapping his energy. He looked up to see the hunter advancing on him and only had time let his head fall back on the rubble of the streets. 'Sorry 6... I wasn't strong enough.' He thought as he closed his eyes and waited for the cool embrace of death. The hunter should be upon him any moment now. But nothing came. There was no crunching sound of it walking, no him as it charged its cannon. Only the quiet of the night. Was this death he wondered? Was there no more pain or agony? Was it really just that fast?

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"Get Up."  
>"Why... it's so nice here."<br>"There's no rest for the wicked Emile."

This voice was so familiar, demanding yet sweet.

He opened his eyes and saw the flickering of a street lamp, the dark clouds of the sky and dust floating in the light of the lamp.

"Good you are alive..." 6 said as she sat beside him. She had dragged Emile over to the others. They lay on the other side of her.  
>Emile sat up slightly and looked over to the others. "Is Jun alright?"<br>"Yeah. He'll be fine. I filled his armor cracks with bio-foam and cracked his leg back into place..."  
>"What about that other one..?"<br>"He's fine too, just got cracked on the head a little too hard. I think... look I'm no trauma expert okay? Let's just get these guys up so we can get the fuck out of here..." Dante complained.  
>"I know 6... But you need to rest too. Just for an hour please? You look pretty beat up."<br>She only nodded and sighed tiredly.  
>"What happened to the other hunter?"<br>"Oh... i ripped its head off... i had no choice, i lost my guns when i was fighting the first one and then my rifle when i tried to hold up the seconds shield... and i think Rookie has your shotgun by the way."  
>"Yeah i noticed..." Emile said as he glared at the ODST. "But just get some rest. I'll stay up and watch alright?"<br>Again a nod was the only thing he received as she laid her head on the ground and fell asleep.

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_Dante sat up slowly and groaned. She looked around and sighed in frustration. Her team was gone again. And she was stripped of her armor, left to defend herself in only her under suit. How did this happen? Maybe this was some set up by ONI... she knew too much and now they were going to get rid of her. Something interrupted her thoughts. A laugh. One that was familiar. It made her spine tingle and freeze. Every hair on her body stood at end. Why? Why was there such a noise coming from here? It wasn't even physically possible. Or was it? She stood and followed the laughter. It grew louder and louder before turning into a squeal of delight as she turned a corner. Standing under the lone lamp post in the middle of the street was a small boy with pink hair. He danced under the light and laughed. He looked over to her and raised a hand.  
>"Come play with me Sister... come play..." he squealed.<br>"R-riley?!" Dante stared in dispalief. This was obviously an illusion. He was killed... no. He was brutally murdered a long time ago. "Why are you here!? You shouldn't be! It's not safe for you!" she screamed as she ran down the street towards him. As she got closer, about halfway to him, a large shadow loomed over her brother and laughed. He could make out a monstrous shape, 4 mandibles that curled into a deadly smile. Lightning cracked the sky and it began to pour rain. She ran faster as Riley screamed out for her.  
>"Why don't you come play sister!? Come... mommy and daddy miss you! Come and play with us!" he cried.<br>"Riley no! Stay away from that thing!" she screamed as riley walked closer towards the monster.  
>"But sister. Didn't you know that i have to? You always where meant to see this. It made you who you are today... wouldn't you agree?" Riley said as the monster picked him up and slammed him onto the ground.<br>_

"_RILEY!" Dante screamed as she fell to her knees and let out a strangled sob, she stared in horror as the monster stepped on riley's head and laughed. She was frozen in place, eyes glued to the scene before her. She fought to move, to scream. Anything. But it was no good. She was just... frozen. The monster slowly walked towards her and emerged from the darkness. A hunkering beast. A nightmare from hell. An Indigo Elite. It smiled at her.  
>"Remeber me human? You do don't you. I can see it on your face." It gave a roar of laughter and looked behind him. She looked too. It was a pile of broken bodies. All in distorted positions. All of them smiled at her.<br>"Where where you 6? I had your back... why didn't you have mine?" Jorge asked sadly. "You could have saved me... if you were stronger. Too bad you weren't fast enough." He laughed a strangled tangle of notes before falling silent.  
>"I TRIED! I got there as fast as i could!" Dante cried as she shook.<br>"It was your idea to goto the bunker 6... If we had stayed put i would never have been sniped. I would still be alive. Its your fault. You aren't the leader type. You made a bad decision." Kat grinned as her head turned upside down. "What a bad leader. And now your new team is going to pay for your recklessness too!" Kat began to laugh hysterically.  
>"NO! I won't let that happen! I didn't mean for it to happen like that! How was i to know!?" Dante screamed.<br>"The same way you should have known to drag me with you from the pelican." Carter said cruelly. "You should have brought me with you... instead you let me take the ultimate fall so you could go on living. You're so selfish." Carter scoffed and chuckled.  
>"You gave me an ORDER. How could i..." Dante trailed off and began balling her eyes out as she stared at the laughing faces of her fallen teammates. "IT'S NOT MY FAULT!"<br>"Isn't it? How is it not? Because of you we're all dead." Riley said from behind the elite. "Everyone you love will die. All because you aren't strong enough. And eventually you will have no one left to love... and then you too will die. A horrible painful death. Just like all of us." Riley sounded almost said, if it weren't for the note of hysteria in his tone. The elite laughed as he towered over her hunched over form.  
>"You see human? All of you loved one turned against you. Humans are so pathetic."<br>"NO. YOU ARENT REAL! ALL OF MY FRIENDS WILL BE AVENGED! I PROMISE!" Dante screamed as she squeezed her eyes shut and cried._

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Dante sat up; her body was stiff and covered in cold sweat.  
>"Ah about time you got up." Emile said as he and the other guys stood around her.<br>"Yeah we thought you had slipped into a coma or something from the way you where so tightly wound up..." Rookie said as he knelt down. "Bad dream?"  
>She nodded and got to her feat. "Let's get the fuck out of here. I don't want to be here anymore. Let's find your team and get off this slag heap." Dante said as she walked into the middle of the street to grab her rifle. "Enough is enough of the fucking covenant."<p>

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Well there it is! Chapter 5! Hope you enjoyed ;3


	6. Oh Son Of a

Chapter 6.

Oh Son Of a...

Disclaimer: i dunna own any halo characters.

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"You really think its going to be that easy 6..? Just waltz on into that fucking horde of Covenant to get to the data hive?" Emile asked as he gestured to the streets below where hundreds of Brutes, Grunts and Jackals crowded around the hive.  
>"I never said anything of the sort so cool it Emile. All I'm saying is that's the objective. Right there. And with luck Rook's team will be in there too..." Dante said as she stepped towards the ledge of the building.<br>"Yeah but how are we going to know if they're in there when we goto destroy it..? They could be in there when the detonator goes off..." Rook said worriedly.  
>"Not to mention getting passed all the Covvies. It really isn't doable on foot 6... Just think about all the shit that could happen... i mean you could get shot, burnt, maimed, eaten, trample, captured or even die! We just can't risk going down there! This is an extremely hostile territory! Think of all the ri- oh dear..." Jun rambled on and stopped only when Dante jumped off the building.<p>

"See you guys on the other side." She announced over the com links as she free fell towards the street. She grabbed onto a street light, spun around it and landed in a crouch on the ground. She kicked dust up as she tore off in the direction of the hive and the hoard o Covenant.

"Damnit when i get my hands on her I'm going to kill her!" Emile growled as he stood and shook his head. "Fuuuuuck... let's go!" he yelled as he jumped off the building and tried to copy Dante's maneuver, only to miss his grasp on the pole and smack his stomach into it instead. He hung on the pole like that for a minute while he re-gained his breath and listened to his team's laughter. "Oh yes. Very fuckin funny! Let's just go!" he lowered himself so that he grasped the pole with his hands and fell to the ground, crouching and waiting for the other two.

"Well... they don't call us "Hell Jumpers" for nothing..." Rookie said as he shrugged and jumped from the roof top, completely missing the pole and heading to the ground, he tucked and rolled just in time and came to a halt on his feat.  
>"Show off..." Emile muttered.<br>"HERE I COME!" Jun screamed as he jumped off the roof, screaming and flailing. He landed on his back and coughed a few times before he sat up and shook his head.  
>"Way to go loud mouth... now they know we're here..." Emile said irritatedly as he watched a few dozen of the covenant turn around to face them.<br>"Oh well... that's not good... not good at all." Jun said as he got to his feet.  
>"Ugh..." Rook groaned as he whacked Jun on the back of the head.<p>

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"So you mean to tell us that she's down in that doomed city with a rag tag band of ODSTs and 2 other Spartans. Are you SERIOUS!? She could be doing so many more useful things but you send her on a SUICIDE mission!?" a blonde haired Spartan shouted at Dr. Halsey.  
>"Well it's not exactly like it was my choice who they sent down there. They asked me for a list of the best remaining soldiers other then the Chief and she was at the top. This mission isn't 'Suicide' either young man. It's a very important mission to destroy the Data Hive before all of our information falls into the covenants hands. I wouldn't expect you to understand." Dr. Halsey said coolly as she adjusted her glasses and put down her data pad.<br>"Whether it was your choice or not you should have SAID something! What would Kurt think if he knew about this!?"  
>"Kurt is no longer with us Soldier. And you know as well as i do that he puts the well being of everyone before a single. You are dismissed now."<p>

Furious the blonde walked out of Halsey's office and out into the long narrow corridor towards the main hall where is partners waited. As soon as he opened the door to the main hall his two partners stood and walked over to him. One looked worried as he saw the blonde's expression.  
>"She's not here is she...?" he asked quickly.<br>"Obviously not smart ass." The second said.  
>"No. They had her go down into new Mombasa... with two other Spartans... to look for a squad of ODSTs... and destroy the Data Hive... and if we know Dante like we do... she's going to charge head first into everything like an idiot and get hurt..." the blonde shook his head before looking at the second Black haired partner.<br>"Maybe we should steel a few drop pods and head down there ourselves to make sure she's okay?" he said with a sly grin.  
>"Yeah sure if you wanna get court martialed... it's not like she's going to die right? She's strong independent and has a good team... i mean just look at what she did with Noble..."<br>"Luke... stop dreaming." The blond said to the first black haired. "Noble was purely by luck that they survived! I'm not saying she isn't a good at what she does bu-"  
>"Zack shut your mouth and just look out for the best. She'll do fine and you know it. Just look at what she did before leaving us... and then after. She's a fucking TANK bro, a TANK. I mean if Reach didn't get her down, and that was an entire planet, then a little city like this isn't going to make her lose it. She'll come back t us so don't worry. Let's just goto the command center and see if we can get any visuals."<br>"Yeah i guess you're right Jarrod..." Zach said with

"Well let's go then... there isn't much we can do from here." Jarrod said as he shook his head and began to walk towards the buildings exit.  
>"Yeah we'll make sure she's okay... get a report or something i guess..." Luke said as he followed after Jarrod.<br>Zach hesitated and watched his friends leave. He looked up to the ceiling and remembered their first meeting. The meeting that brought ECHO team together.

"_Today for your first training exercise we will be placing you into groups of five. Your task is to make it to the end of the obstacle course, WITH your teammates! No man gets left behind!" the old captain barked as he walked back and forth in front of the recruits, eyeing them very carefully. "Team ECHO will consist of; Dante-B118, Jarrod-B256, Naomi-B178, Zachery-B137, and Luke-B332."  
>Zach could hear Dante scoff, obviously she wasn't happy with being paired with her bunkmate and the others. <em>

_They all gathered in a small circle and made their introductions. It was clear from the start that Dante would be their leader; she was the most motivated for whatever reason. Jarrod immediately showed dislike for Luke and Naomi was shy as could be. Zach was friendly and everyone liked him right off the bat it seemed. They all added their hands into the center of the circle and wished eachoter good luck and a warm welcome to ECHO. _

_The obstacle course was a breeze and it was obvious that they had a lot in common. Dante being the leader always had a plan. Her crystal blue eyes would always dance with something... maybe it was a savage motivation... sorrow or maybe just all her emotions clashing. But she always knew what to do. Jarrod was the brute strength of the team, his light brown eyes would always be clear and focused, his lean body always tensed for a fight. Naomi would always be in the shadows, she was quick and nimble, like a bunny or a fairy. When she would train in hand to hand she looked like she was dancing, her wavy blond hair looked like ribbons in the wind when she dodged. Luke was the smart one. He always tinkered with everything and usually put a smile on people faces. He was kind, always smiling. Even his turquoise eyes shined with laughter. And then Zach. He was smart, fast and strong. The oldest out of the group, leader qualities. But he never wanted to take Dante's place; he looked up to his younger teammate and respected her. _

_Many training sessions had gone by and they grew closer together. They weren't just a team. They where family._

Zach shook his head and ran out of the hall and towards his friends. "HEY! Wait for me guys!" he called out.

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"Can you see her yet?" Jun called out as he sniped a few grunts and tossed a frag grenade into an oncoming cluster of Jackals.  
>"Ahhh yeah actually... She's kinda scary right now..." Emile said as he stomped on a grunts skull.<br>"What do you me-" Rook was interrupted by a loud maniacal laugh coming from the center of the hoard.  
>"YOU THINK THIS IS A MOTHER FUCKING GAME!?" she screamed as she pulled out a flamethrower and ignited it, sending wave after wave of fire over the hoard. The grunts scattered and screamed as their skin melted and methane tanks exploded into a cloud of green gas. The Jackals tried futilely to raise their shields to the fire, but they simply flickered and went out. Then they too were lit on fire. Just as a huge Brute stepped into the cluster the fire stopped and Dante looked at the ammo counter. It read zero. "Well that's no fun... eat this then!" she laughed as she rushed the Brute and shoved a plasma grenade down its throat and ran towards the Hive, leaving a few clusters for the boys to take care of.<p>

"Yeah i see what you mean. Scary just... isn't the word for it." Rook said as he fired away at some grunts with a Battle Rifle.  
>"You got that right." Emile said as he fired at Brute.<br>"I lost visual again! She must have entered the hive!" Jun said as he shook his head in agitation and threw another grenade.  
>"For fucks sakes... well let's take care of these fuckers and the-" Emile stopped short as a huge blast of green plasma flew through the streets. "WE GOT HUNTERS!" he exclaimed as the pair ran into the streets.<br>"Greeaaat" Rookie said as he readied himself for the hunter attack.

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"Okay let me see... in the hive now. Let's see..." Dante said to herself as she looked at a map on the wall of the hive. She on the main floor and needed to get to the basement where they kept all the information and whatnot. There was an elevator lift not too far from here but it looked like the power was off. So that was off limits. Then perhaps the service tunnels would be the best idea. Although with the way things were going it seemed like they would be infested with Covvies. "Well I'm not going to get any work just standing here." She said as she took off in the direction of the service tunnels.

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"Rook look out!" Jun screamed as a hunter charged at Rookie.  
>"NOT THIS TIME YOU JERKS!" Rook yelled as he dodged to the side and led one of the hunters to an overhang in a bridge. Emile was waiting on a nearby building with a rocket launcher. As soon as the first hunter came into view he shot it twice in the back and then to finish it off he stuck it on the back. Rook whooped in joy and turned to the Hive where the other Hunter fired at Jun and repeatedly missed.<br>"Jun see if you can hit it in the back if we-" Rook stopped mid sentence as a phantom and 2 banshees landed in the clearing and crushed the hunter.

"Holly fuck we're screwed." Emile said as he and the others ran up to the opening of the Phantom.  
>"DONT SHOOT. We aren't Covenant!" a voice from inside said as a few shapes where made out from inside the growing light.<br>"BUCK!? Is that you!?" Rook exclaimed as he ran into the opening and greeted his team. "What happened to Romeo...?" Rook asked as he looked over to the unconscious teammate.  
>"A grav hammer brute got him... he should be okay though. What about you? We thought you were dead." Buck said as he looked over Rookie.<br>"I would have been if it weren't for those guys out there. Their leader is inside the Date Hive right now... i think she's going to destroy i- where's Dare..?"  
>"I-in the Hive." Buck stammered as he ran out of the phantom and to the rest of Noble.<p>

"You're leader! Com her and tell her NOT to destroy the Hive! One of my men is in there!" Buck ordered as he looked at Emile.  
>"Uh... okay just give me a sec." He turned his com and listened for a second before he called out her name. '6. Locate the ODST in there before destroying the Hive. The rest of the ODST team is here now. Their last member is in there. It looks like their injured so get out FAST.' Emile waited for a response. A few moments went by before there was static.<br>'Got it. I'm just waiting at a locked door now... oh. Here got to go. Be waiting with transport. I'll be a second.' She said before flipping off her com.  
>"Well she knows..." Emile said as he rolled his shoulders. "She says to ready whatever transport we have... so let's do that."<br>"Sounds good..." Buck said as he sighed tiredly.

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"My name's Dare and you are?" Dare asked as she let Dante into the command center.  
>"Dante. My team and i were sent down to this forsaken city to make sure you all came back alive. This is the command center right? This means we can set a timer and get the fuck out of here."<br>"Well actually there's a slight set back... you see we need to get this guy out of here alive... he could be extremely value- NO DONT SHOOT IT!" Dare yelled and recoiled as Dante raised her needle rifle to an Engineers head.  
>"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA just how harmful these things are!? They give the Covenant over shields!" Dante cried out. "And you want me NOT to kill it?!"<br>"Yes! He's not like that! They are the Covenants prisoners! They don't choose to help the covenant! They're forced to! His name is Virigl. And i believe that he holds information on the Covenant! Valuable information that can help us. So please don't shoot him." Dare pleaded.  
>Dante lowered her weapon and scoffed. "Fine. Let's just go. I'm stetting the timer and if it doesn't make it then too bad. I won't risk my life for that things." Dante said as she placed a detonator on the control modules and set it. "Let's go."<br>"I understand. Let's move." Dare nodded and they took off.

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"Look there they are!" Rook exclaimed as he saw Dante and Dare emerge from the opening of the hive. They limped slightly and an engineer followed them.  
>"Start that thing!" Dante exclaimed. "We have 1 minute left on the timer!"<br>"LETS GO!" Dare yelled as she jumped into the phantom with Virgil.  
>"Where's my team?"<br>"DANTE GET IN HERE!" Emile said as he grabbed her arm and pulled her in and the phantom took off.

The Hive Exploded.

It took out most of the city.

There was a lot of turbulence.

And then Dante blacked out from exhaustion. Her head landed in Rookies lap and he couldn't help a smile. "Yeah 6, take a rest. You deserve it."

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Welllll there's chapter 6! Now that the campaign is over i wonder what else will be in store for our rag tag group of friends?


	7. A bit of a rest

Chapter 7

A bit of a rest.

Disclaimer: i dunna own Dx (aside from ECHO team and Rooks personality)

'_A small, almost lifeless girl sat up in the destroyed streets. She clutched her head in an endless agony as her head throbbed from her wounds. She had short pink hair and icy blue piercing eyes. Her pale skin was covered in soot, bruises and small gashes that oozed crimson liquid. _

_The streets around her were vaporized. Every building was burned or toppled to the ground, Human and Alien corpses littered the destroyed and cracked ground. The girl stood and stumbled, crying out loud and clutching her right leg. She limped over to a raised piece of cement and sat down. She panted and wiped her face off, flicking off blood, dirt and sweat from her hands. _

_The wound on her leg was deep. The wound ran from the outside of her right ankle to just under the knee. It was burnt. Then she remembered what had happened not too long ago. And why she was alone._

_Screams filled the air beside the deafening sound of gun and cannon fire. The air exploded with a shot from a cannon just behind the girl. She clutched her brother's hand and she looked down at her. His aqua green eyes where bloodshot from fear and exhaustion, his short pink hair was matted and tangled slightly with blood and dirt._

_The two siblings began running down an abandoned alley way. There was a ship waiting at the other end of the city. _

"_just hold on a little longer, Dante... we're almost th-" the boy stopped and shoved his sister out of the way just as a sizzling blind flash erupted where she had been seconds before. _

_An 8 foot tall alien, clad in purple-ish blue armor snarled out a laugh, its mandibles parted in a blood squelching smile._

"_RUN!" Dante screamed at her brother, scrambling to get away from their giant attacker._

_The seconds seemed like an eternity as Dante looked behind her, her brother pulled out a pocket knife from his worn leather boots, the metallic blade gleamed in the dyeing sunlight. _

"_RILEY NO!" Dante's scream echoed off the broken buildings and empty alley. _

_Riley had jumped at the Elite and latched onto its back and managed to climb up to its neck. He looked at her sadly and it almost seemed as if he knew he wasn't going to make it out of this. He mouthed the words "I love you, Sis." Before he slammed the pocket knife in between parts in the elite's armor. He buried the knife into its neck until he couldn't force it in anymore, then as hard as he could he yanked it towards him, slicing the Elite's airway. _

_The Elite was enraged. All the while thrashing its head and trying to get him off. The Elite sucked at the air, desperately trying to breathe. It managed to grab Riley's ankle and savagely threw him to the ground. _

_As Riley impacted with the ground there was a horrible blood curdling cracking noise. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he went limp. The Elite leaned over him and smiled again, blue blood poured from its neck and onto the Riley and the ground. _

_The elite, wanting to make sure Riley was dead, picked him up and violently shook him, making sure to squeeze him at the same time. Once it was satisfied that Riley was dead it turned to Dante and tossed Riley's lifeless body towards her with a grin._

_She stood there. Frozen in fear. Staring as her brother's body fell before her. Tears began to stream down her face and she turned to run away, screaming in terror. How had it come to this? _

_The Elite approached its movements jerky and slow. It was dying from suffocation. But it still scared her. It stumbled once before falling towards her, slashing its energy sword towards her in one last defiant act. Dante tripped and managed to roll slightly in the gravel. Her eyes bulged in surprise as she felt the sword sink into her right leg. It melted through her skin like a white hot knife through butter. She collapsed and managed to look behind her. The elite gave one final attempt to suck air into its greedy lungs before it went limp. _

_And then everything went black._

_Riley sat up as best he could and watched in horror as the Elite swung its energy sword towards his sister. It just barely grazed the back of her leg before the elite feebly fell over and gasped one last time before it died. Riley sighed in relief and coughed up blood. He collapsed backwards and his eyes slowly drifted shut. As he drew his dying breath he smiled. _

'_At... Least she's... safe... now...' Riley thought as his body began to shut down. He went limp; his lifeless body finally looked at peace now. He smiled even wider when his heart beat its last beat. He faded into Limbo, he was gone._

_Dante's stomach twisted into a knot as she remembered the events before she had passed out. She looked around and her eyes came to rest on the dead Elite. It looked so pathetic and weak now. Her eyes then followed to the Elites feet. And just beyond that was a tuft of pink hair. She quickly ran over to see. Her eyes filled with tears again and she freely shed them. She collapsed to her knees beside her brother and clutched him. _

"_PLEASE RILEY! WAKE UP!" her please and cries did no good for him. She shook and did everything to try and wake him up. But when she finally calmed down enough to realize he was truly gone she noticed he was cold. And he was smiling. She sobbed loudly and smashed her tiny fist into the ground beside him. _

_Dante looked up into the ash filled sky and screamed. She let the world know of her sorrows and her pain. "MARK MY WORDS! I WILL AVENGE YOU RILEY SERIPHIM!" _

_Her mournful cries echoed off the dead city's walls and crumbling buildings.'_

Dante sat bolt upright in her bed and looked around. She was covered in sweat and her breathing was hard. It took her a moment to realize she was in a bed and not on the ground. And her dream... no nightmare was really a memory. A terrible memory. She looked down and realized her armor was off and she lay in only her under suit. She ripped open the night stand and looked frantically for her dog tags. Once the cool metal was within her fingers she unclasped one of the tags and pulled out a folded picture. It was of her and her brother when they where little. She sighed and then frowned. This was the only picture she had of him. She got out of bed and placed the tags around her neck and stripped off her under suit. She walked to the closet and grabbed a pair of brown cargo shorts, underwear and green muscle shirt. She got dressed quickly and ran a hand threw her hair.

"Dante...?" there was a small knock at her door and the voice was familiar but soft.  
>"Come in." She answered as she walked to the foot of the bed to grab her boots.<br>"It's good to see you awake. Are you alright now?" Rook asked as he looked her over. "You've been out for the last 24 hours. I was just coming to check on you there's some peo-"  
>"please... lower your voice Rook. My head hurts." Dante said as she sighed.<br>"Ah... sorry. Guess i was excited. I'm just happy you're awake and well. The others will like to know this."  
>"Heh... yeah. It's good to see you awake and well too. Thanks for all your help down there Rook."<br>"are you kidding me...? It's us that should thank you...i would be dead. But aside from all this i should go... I'll talk to you later okay?" he began to walk out the door when Dante grabbed his arm.  
>"Really. Thank you. You ODSTs aren't as bad as they make you out to be." She patted his back before letting him walk away.<p>

"Well i better go and check on Emile and Jun..." Dante said as she walked out into the hallway. She was stopped short as she was tackled to the ground by three men. "WHAT THE HELL!?"  
>"DANTE YOU'RE OKAY!" the three of them exclaimed as they let her sit up.<br>"J-Jarrod...? Zach!? Luke!? You guys are here!? I thought... i thought i would never see you guys again!" she began crying as she embraced her old teammates and laughed. "I missed you guys so much. W-where's Naomi..?" she asked as she looked around.  
>"Oh Naomi's on some mission... we don't really know." Zach admitted as he stood and helped her up.<br>"Yeah not too long after you were taken from camp we were taken too. I stayed with Luke and Naomi and Zach ended up together." Jarrod said as he placed a hand on Dante's shoulder. "I'm glad you're still alive. We heard what happened at Reach... I'm really sorry about that..."  
>"It's not your fault Jarrod. Mistakes were made. But now that we're back together... let's try to keep it this way okay..? I don't ever want to leave my team again."<p>

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"I don't ever want to leave my team again." Emile heard Dante say as he walked around the corner and looked upon the happy reuniting of ECHO team. She was smiling. He'd never seen her smile like that before. A true smile. He shook his head and walked over to the group. "Dante, I'm glad you're okay. And i see that the guests were actually old teammates?" Emile asked as he looked the three men over with careful eyes.  
>Dante nodded and walked over to him, placing her arms around him in a slight hug. "You worry me Emile... i don't know what i would have done if i had lost you guys down there... I'm so grateful to have you as a member of my team- no my family."<br>"Eh..? What's all this? Why so sentamental now?"  
>Zach laughed and walked over to them. "I'm going to guess you've never seen Dante's nice side before eh?" Zach asked with a grin.<br>"Maybe once before..." Emile admitted.

"Well she does have a nice side. She just doesn't show it so much." Luke said with a big grin as he leaned against the wall.  
>"Yeah she's a sweet little thing." Jarrod mused as he ruffled her hair.<br>"Yeah and I'll fucking rip your arm off if you do that again Jarrod." She threatened as she moved away from everyone. "I'll be back... i need to request something of the Colonel." Dante said and left.

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"I hope you will accept my offer sir." Dante said with a stoic face. Her voice was calm and level.  
>He thought for a moment before nodding. "So let me get this straight. You want to go back to the glassed planet of Reach... to see if you can re-build there." He paused. And you want your ECHO and NOBLE teams to come with you."<br>Dante nodded and looked him in the eye. "Sir, the planet has already been glassed so there would be no point for the covenant to come back there am i correct? Once i set up a base i can begin to rebuild the facilities there and start new. It would mean another shipping planet if i where to succeed." Dante stated as she folded her hands behind her back.  
>"Hm..." he thought for a few minutes before he looked back to her. "And how much money would you need?"<br>"Set a budget for me and I'll do what i can. I am even willing to do the majority of the labour myself."  
>"Very well. I'll work something out with the others. You may chose one ship and leave emmediatly. If i see no progress within the next year i will terminate this project." He said as he waved her away.<br>"Thank you sir. You won't be disappointed." She walked out and briskly made her way to the meeting room where she had messaged her teams to meet her.

"Ah you're late!" Zach laughed as he sipped some water.  
>"Well i just made plans for the next year... and i want all of your help." Dante said as she walked into the meeting room and looked around. "We're going to re-build Reach. We have a year to start with improvements on the planet... and i need you all. This is a secret project of sorts. No one knows of this but us and the Colonel. Will you help?" she asked.<br>The response from the room was exactly what she had hoped. Everyone was for it.

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"You mean... you're leaving already? But you only just recovered..." Rook said as he looked at Dante with sad eyes. "But i guess it can be helped. Please be safe. And don't do anything too stupid. I just wish i knew where and what you guys are going to be doing..." Rook said irritatedly. "I would gladly come with you... but that's not my call... keep in touch okay?" he asked as he smiled sadly.  
>"I'm sorry Rook... but this is something we need to do. I... don't want to leave you behind. But i don't know if you'd be of any help. Besides... you'd have to get clearance from you're CO and then the Colonel. And i can't make any promises on the in touch thing... I'll be awfully busy..."<br>"Dante... please just stay safe." Rook said as he leaned over to her and placed a kiss on her forehead. "I'm glad i got to meet you and got to become one of your comrades." He said before walking away quickly.  
>"Eh... see you soon... Rookie." Dante said as she stared after him, her face flushed.<p>

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Wellll chapter 7! :D hope it wasn't too dull.. And now begins the next part o our story. I wonder if they'll be able to rebuild.


	8. Return to Reach

Chapter 8

Return to Reach

Disclaimer: i dunna own any halo Characters.

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"So this is what's left of Reach..." Jarrod murmured as he stepped out of the ship 'Truth Behind Lies' and looked over the horizon. He saw little green and mostly shattered glass. Cracks and crevices that made deep long shadows in the earth. "So tell me why we're here again?" He asked.  
>"Because the Covenant were looking for something when they were here. So the planet isn't completely destroyed like all the others would have been. There might still be something to work with here... a home we can build..." Dante explained sadly as she stared with him. "This wasn't just a mission to me when i was here... it was... like a home to me. After camp i trusted no one and never felt at home... but Noble... and Reach were different. It was like i had finally found where i belong... and now it's mostly gone... so if i can build it back up again then i will." There was silence as the rest of Echo joined them.<p>

"So you think boss' head is in the clouds with this one...?" Emile asked Jun as they watched Jarrod and Dante speak a ways away.  
>"It's not so much that. I just think that she is chasing an empty dream or hope... Reach was... i mean look at it. It's gone, glassed, destroyed. And here we are going to do what? Try to build something that isn't even salvageable. It's a waste of our time... we could be out there doing something better..." Jun rambled on as he stared Emile in the eyes.<br>"You have so little faith in her... you're a quitter Jun. You never take on a task that isnt easily reachable do you? You can leave if you want... but just know that the next time you need us we won't be there." Emile said crossly as he went to join Echo.

Jun stood there for a moment and thought. "Am i really that useless... do i really... never stay if it's tough...?" he looked after Emile and frowned. "EMILE!" he called.  
>Emile stopped and faced him. "What?"<br>"I won't leave. I'll stick this out till the end if you will... it's just... going to be hard. So let's do our best okay?"  
>Emile laughed and turned away. "Whatever you say."<p>

"So... we'll start with the old base... see what's left..."  
>"Of Sword?" Emile asked as he joined them.<br>"Yeah... and then the surrounding area. I'm... hoping that not everything is like this... i hope they found what they were looking for and left..." Dante sighed as she looked at the map she had made in the dirt. "But that's all. The ship is filled with supplies and there's going to be a few more shipments of materials and whatnot within the year... let's just hope there's something to work with here." She stood from her crouch and looked around. "I'm thinking that me, Emile and Zach will take the Falcon from the ship and scout out sword base and Noble Base... or at least the areas where they were supposed to be."  
>Emile nodded and headed for the ship to ready the Falcon.<br>"And the rest of us?" Jun asked.  
>"I'll need you three to stay here and check over equipment. I need a full detailed list of everything in stock."<br>"Got it boss." Jun said and himself, Jarrod and Luke took off into the ship.

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"Rook, something wrong?" Buck asked the young ODST as the team sat down for a quick meal after a training session.  
>"Ah. I just miss the excitement. It's so dull here. And now that the war is coming to an end... everything is so slow..." he sighed and picked at his peas.<br>Dare laughed, "Is that all? Or do you miss a certain Heroine who saved you life?" she looked at him with a knowing smile.  
>"You have got to be kidding me. Why would i miss her?" He glared.<br>She smiled.  
>"I-i mean c'mon Dare! She's a SPARTAN, a 1st class warrior of the UNSC. So of course she would have to leave... so soon. And then not let me come." His face was straight and his hands clenched.<br>"OHH! So the Rookie has a crush on Noble 6!" Romeo laughed as he slammed his fork down.  
>"No way! Seriously? Welllll you never did tell us what happened when it was just you two after her pod crashed. Did ya creep on her or something eh Rook?" Dutch joked as he jabbed Rookie in the ribs with his elbow.<br>"NO! I didn't do anything like that!"

Buck laughed as his team joked with Rookie. "She is quiet the looker Rook, you sure you didn't drool over her at least?" He laughed harder at rookie's irritation.  
>"This isn't funny!" Rookie stood and looked at the ceiling, his face flushed. "We were simply comrades! Nothing happened!"<br>"Alright alright leave the poor kid alone." Mickey said with a chuckle. "After all, it's not that he did anything in reality... but maybe in his head he did!"  
>Everyone burst out laughing.<br>"I hate you all..." rookie said as he shook his head and left the mess hall.  
>"NO YA DONT! YOU LOVE US!" Romeo taunted, "JUST LIKE YOU LOVE 6!"<br>Another roar of laughter.

Rookie grumbled as he walked down the hallways of the ODST base. He stopped at his room and looked inside. "Maybe i should go and talk to the Colonel... but..." he sighed. "He'll probably say no... ack i have no courage!" he walked into his room and flopped onto his bed, letting out a big exaggerated sigh. "I hate this..." he shook his head and rolled over. He lay there for what seemed like hours before there was a knock at the door.

Rook got up and opened the door, a marine wearing a crisp uniform stood at attention outside his door.  
>"Can i help you soldier?" Rookie asked as he looked at the man quizzically.<br>"The Colonel wishes to see you ODST Rookie!" he saluted and marched on down the hallway.  
>Rookie stared after him and then snapped out of his stare. "I wonder what this is all of a sudden..."<br>O

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'How long as it been...' he wondered as he looked at the sun as it begun to set on the west horizon. He watched it intently for a moment before he sighed and slumped his shoulders. He looked down into the cracked earth and felt his spirit grow weaker. This once glorious planet reduced to a broken looking glass. It was tragic. And it hurt a lot to see his home destroyed like this. It wasn't a total lose however. There were a few undestroyed areas, and few lives left scattered amongst those areas. He had come across one, but it pained him to stay there. Too many memories... to many scars that would open upon seeing the empty rooms and empty labs. And their spare armor that would never be filled. It was too sad even for him to handle. So he moved on. And now he walked along a glass path, hoping to find someone. Anyone to help him off this dead planet before he too became nothing but a dead heap.

But that was only a dream. After the accident there was no one left when he landed. The covenant gone, all the wildlife for the most part dead, all the people nowhere to be found. Reach was lost to the Covenant. So it turned out he wasn't saving the planet with that move... only recklessly giving up his life. But it hadn't happened like that. He closed his eyes and sat down, remembering a not so distant time.

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_He watched as she entered the 'Long Night of Solace' and then took off to kill the Elites in the room. She had such passion and determination when it came to this kind of thing. She always went for the kill with Elites... and usually it wasn't with mercy... she made them suffer. It wasn't long before the gravity was turned on and she was greeting me with a quick nod. We got a message as to where the control room was. She took a DMR and a handful of marines and rushed in to find it. I stayed with the Bomb. I heard her scream out as the Savannah went down. I told her there wasn't anything we could do._

_I waited for her return when suddenly there was more Covenant upon us. I told her our ride was taking fire. She came as quickly as she could and dispatched them. It was almost as if she danced with them, dodging their bullets and returning fire. Never missing. It was over too soon. But not before they could do some damage. She fell back to me and we prepared to set the bomb. The timer didn't respond. Her shoulders slumped and she took her helmet off, her crystal blue eyes teary. She shook her head and gestured to herself. "I'll do it." She pleaded. "They need you down there Jorge! Please!" tears spilled from her eyes. I only shook my head and walked towards her. I took my helmet off and let it fall to the ground as i grabbed her arms._

"_Six... the team needs you more then they need me. Please. I need you to go." I looked down at her with a straight face.  
>She stared into my eyes and clenched her fists. "I won't let you die! This wasn't supposed to happen like this!" she screamed i my face and shook her head. She tried to get out of my grasp but i wouldn't let her. Before she could stop me i leaned down and placed my lips against hers. Hers were soft and warm unlike my cold dry ones. She stiffened before relaxing somewhat. I picked her up and looked into her eyes with sadness. The reality of it hit her as i walked towards the launch bay doors.<br>"I'm sorry. But you're out here Six..."  
>She screamed and thrashed, trying to get out of my arms. I wouldn't let her. I placed her helmet back on her head and placed my dog tags into her hand before whispering in her audio port, and then throwing her. She screamed. Loudly. It wasn't out of anger, i could tell. It was sorrow. I watched for a moment before i walked over to the bomb and pressed the remote detonator. <em>

_There was a loud bang followed by white noise. Was this death? No it couldn't be. Fire and stars flickered across my vision as the bomb erupted, sending the Long Night of Solace t into slip space with a loud crack. There was shock wave after shockwave of air and sound as the ship traveled. The marines that were left in the bay screamed as the pressure made their ears bleed. I reached for my helmet and secured it on. There was another loud rattle. And then a support beam from the ship came loose and crushed the marines. They died instantly, splattering the ground with their crimson liquids. I gasped at the scene and looked up just as another beam fell and hit me on the head. _

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Jorge awoke from his dream and looked around. The sun was well beyond set by this time. His mouth was dry and he reached into his pack for a canteen. Fining it he held it to his lips and took a swig, only to find it empty. He cursed. So much for staying in comfort, he had to find water fast or risk dehydrating himself. He heard a chopping noise and looked up into the star twinkling sky. Was it his mind playing tricks on him? Or was that a Falcon? It couldn't be. Everyone on reach was either dead or gone. Weren't they? He got up quickly and rummaged through his bag until he found something. A red tube with a fuse like ending. He lit it and a brilliant red light flared to life.

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"You know at least it isn't a total loss! Noble base is still standing 6!" Zach said with enthusiasm as he leaned out the side of the falcon to look for any vegetation.  
>6 laughed half heartedly. "Yeah i suppose so. I'm just glad that there is still some farm land... i wasn't expecting there to be much of anything to be honest." She sighed, and looked out the window.<br>"We still get to use the explosives though right?" Emile asked as he looked out the other side from Zach.  
>"Yes of course. We need to restore as much of the area as possible which means making a small lake and getting rid of as much glass as possible.."<br>"HEY! There's something down there!" Zach exclaimed as he saw a flicker in the darkness below.  
>"Don't be a fool Zach there's no one on Reach." Dante said as she waved hm off and continued to fly the Falcon back to 'Truth Behind Lies'.<br>"Eh... okay. But I'm sure i saw something..."  
>"It was probably the lights of the Falcon bouncing off of the glass below." Emile suggested as he looked out Zach's bay and saw nothing.<br>"Ah...maybe you're right." Zach sighed and leaned back. "In any case it's been a long day. Let's just get back and sleep..."  
>"I agree." Emile added.<br>"Okay okay fine." Dante said with a hint of irritation. "But i get the room Zach and Luke this time... Emile you and Jun snore..." she laughed.

They landed not to long after near Truth Behind Lies and set off inside. Jun met them as soon as they walked in and began a long list of supplies. There where such things that varied from blankets to 100 Gallon tanks of water. After hearing the briefing on the stock Dante dismissed everyone and they all turned in for the night.

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"Sir. Do you mean that you're sending me to Reach...?" Rookie asked the Colonel.  
>"Yes. I didn't see it as a problem. You're team of ODST's requested it, saying that it may help out the Spartan team there. Reach is too damn important to leave. If it can be salvaged then i want as many people as i can spare to go there. You and you're team are the last i will be sending there for now. Do not disappoint me soldier." The Colonel said as he stood and looked out the window.<br>"Sir! Yes Sir!" Rookie said with a salute. "When do we leave?"  
>"By this time next week you're team will be leaving. As for the time in between you are to carry on with training as well as readying your ship. There is a shipment that needs to head to the Team there anyway. As soon as i get a message from Noble 6 it will be stocked and heading with you. That will be all."<p>

Rookie walked out of the Colonels office with a big grin plastered over his face. He was going to goto Reach. Or rather what was left of Reach to try and re-build it. And more importantly he would get a chance to see Noble team again. He spaced out and walked down the hallway, swaying his arms to and fro and humming.

Dare watched as Rookie passed her and she almost laughed. He looked like he was on cloud 9. 'So i guess that the Colonel is letting us go then. It'll be nice to be actually doing something for a change...' Dare thought as she smiled. There was a scream down the hall and Dare ran. The scream had come from the women's locker room. She ran inside and there Rook was, backed against the wall with a huge blush on his face.  
>"I DIDDNT MEAN TO! REALLY! I WAS SPACED OUT!" he cried as a few of the female Marines cracked their knuckled and advanced on him.<br>Dare shook her head and lead him out of the room. "You're and idiot. Now goto you're room." She guided him back to his room and closed the door after he walked in. "What a knuckle head." She said as she walked down the hall to her own room.

"Ah... im a fool!" Rookie said as he shook his head and readied himself for bed. "Well better prepare for the next week!" he said with enthusiasm as he laid down for sleep.

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Jorge watched in dismay as the Falcon flew off. He picked up his gear and trudged off in the direction it had flown. It couldn't have gone too far. Falcons where usually used for shorter distance traveling. Which meant that if he followed this direction he could come across it again. He hoped.

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Ahhh chapter 8. :3 all will be explained about how Jorge is on Reach next chapter ;D


	9. Noble Base

Chapter 9

Noble Base

Disclaimer: i dunna own any halo Characters. Aside from Echo team and rook personality.

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Dante walked around the ship preparing for lift off. All systems seemed to be in check. 3 sat in the cock pit waiting for the go ahead.  
>"You have training for this?" She asked, her face disbelieving and somewhat irritated.<br>"Oh no. I just figured i would sit here and wait for you to come back. You know make sure no one tries a mutiny." He rambled.  
>"Right. Because someone is going to just show up on Reach and take over my ship. Get out before i shoot you. And I'm serious. This is the only ship besides the pelican and falcon we have. I don't need you messing it up." Dante said as she shoed 3 out of the cock pit. She looked around and started flipping switches and pressing buttons. "Oi guys we're taking off now so sit tight for a moment... we should be there soon. And please for the love of anything that isn't covenant keep Zach away from the doors and windows." She sighed and activated the launch sequence. The ship rumbled to life and began to take off the ground slowly. Within a few moments they had gained enough altitude to start moving safely across reach.<p>

Once in the air Dante sighed and activated a small port where an AI would have gone. Instead of an AI there was only a piloting program. Because she was the only one with pilot training she was the only one who could be in the cock pit. And because this was a full frigate ship it took more than one person to operate. She keyed in coordinated into the port's data pad and looked over to the captain's chair. She missed the rest of Noble team... if Carter were there he's be able to tell her the exact plan that they should follow to restore Reach. Kat would be able to hack into anything and make it run better. And Jorge... he was excellent company when things got tough. And the road ahead would be extremely tough. This wasn't just a standard mission where you killed things and got your honors afterwards, this was a reconstruction mission. There was little to no killing involved.

"So i guess this is the day when i become what? A farmer...? This wasn't the best idea... i should have brought some marines along..." she sighed and looked out into the screen that projected the area. A lot of glass. And no trees. It was sad. On the horizon half of a mountain stood, the other half looked like it was cut away. Whatever the covenant were after must have been over there because in that area is where the glass seamed to stop. "I'll have to go and look it over when there's time." She muttered and looked back to the data pad. It flickered with information that she skimmed over and her finger dased across to the life panel. There was a moment in between shifting from statistics to life form scans. There was a flicker of a scanning motion and then the data was upon the chart. There was a surprising amount o life left. But compared to the glory of Reach before it was very low. She sighed.

The scan depicted a lot of wild moa that had survived the glassing and a handful of other wild animals. And... 7 humans? She shook her head. The only humans on Reach were herself and the other 5 on board. Right? She shook her head and called Luke into the cock pit. He walked in quickly and looked around.  
>"Pretty empty in here isn't it." He asked as he looked at the glowing data pad.<br>"Yeah. It's nice. Can you look over the scanning system? I think its malfunctioning." She pointed to the terminal off to the right of the captain's area.  
>"I'll check it out..." he made his way over to the terminal and began to undo panels and look at the internals. Dante turned back to the scans and made a face. Something wasn't right. All the equipment was checked over by professionals before they left. So why would this come up? She sighed in frustration and looked out the screen again. She smiled slightly when she saw Noble Base. Home sweet home. It still stood somehow. "I wonder if everything is still inside..." she started the landing sequence and looked over to Luke.<p>

He stood and walked over to her. "Everything is fine. Nothings out of place at all..."  
>"ah. Well then. That's all i guess." She shrugged and stepped back as something rattled the ship. "Let's go." She muttered as she walked off towards the back of the ship to unload.<p>

"Hey Dante looks like we're actually here..." Emile said as Dante walked into the hangar.  
>"Yeah. Let's not waste any time and go scout it out. I want Jarrod ad Zach to check the Marines Barracks and courtyard, Luke and Jun you get the field and the gym. Emile and i will check the mess hall and the Noble's home base area." They all nodded and took off to do their jobs.<br>"Hey 6... You think that we should build a monument to the others...?" Emile asked as he looked to the base. The base that was almost haunted. It was empty and dark. "It's almost as if the old days... but there's no life now." He looked sad.  
>"I know Emile. I wasn't a part of Noble for as long as you... or on Reach... but it still... feels the same for me. And yes... i was thinking the same. We'll rebuild here... and then once we can we'll build a monument... for those heroes that perished..." Dante looked to the ground and sighed.<br>"It'll be okay 6. At least we still have each other... and you have your old team too. So it's not so bad." He patted her back and shrugged. "Let's go and check things out."

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Jorge set his pack properly on his shoulders and looked up into the dark night sky. It hadn't been too long since the Falcon had gone by and he was covering a pretty good distance. He made sure to check his compass in his helmet often and kept in the same direction. He hoped to find the falcon within a few hours. It was late and he hadn't slept properly in quite some time. It was labour to walk with his pack and turret. Being tired and dehydrated didn't seem to help either.

He walked on and on for an hour or so before he had to stop. He set his things down and looked through his pack and laid everything out so he could look it all over. He had a few dried bits of fruit, 3 grain bars and a strip of dried jerky left. He shook his head and looked up. If he didn't find something soon he would die of dehydration, hunger or exhaustion. The latter wasn't as likely as the first 2 however. Just because he was a Spartan didn't let him cheat natural human needs.  
>"I need to rest..." he said out loud as he lay on the ground, using his pack as a pillow. He drifted into a dreamless sleep that left him tossing and turning into the early morning hours.<p>

Jorge awoke to the sound of an engine blast. He looked around and found a ship off in the horizon, it looked as if it where lifting off and coming towards him. He looked hopeful again, so last night wasn't a hallucination! It was real! There WERE people on Reach. But if the ship was taking off then maybe it was leaving Reach. He shook his head and hefted his pack and turret and watched as the ship took off towards the remains of Noble Base. "Odd... why are they going there?" he wondered out loud. "Maybe it's the rest of Noble..." he said with a smile. "Maybe they've come back!" he started running in the direction the frigate had flown, a spring in his step and his spirit returned.

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"All clear." Emile said as he stepped out of the Mess hall and joined Dante in the hallway to their old rooms. "So... just like old times." He murmured as she stared blankly at a room labelled "5".  
>"It's not the same anymore..." her tone was hollow and her eyes were glazed over and seeing something that wasn't there, probably a distant memory.<br>"It's alright 6..." he sighed and looked at his friend up and down. "You... loved him didn't you?" he asked.  
>She said nothing and leaned against the wall opposite of the door. "I only loved one person in this world Emile... i did all of this for him. Became the monster i am today..."<br>"You're not a monster." He stated dryly and looked down at her.  
>"Have i ever told you why I'm so cold? Or why i hate Elites...?" she asked as she continued to stare at the door.<br>He shook his head.

"When i was little, i had a brother." She started. "He was always there for me. He was 5 when he died. I was 3. He was taken in the worst way possible and i wish it had been me instead." She went on and told Emile of how Riley had died. "And once i was in camp i decided to have no fear. I would face everything and love no one. Because everyone i loved was taken from me. So once i came to Reach and became a part of Noble that changed... i became close to you guys like i did with Echo. And once i let you all in... You began to die one by one..." she pulled her knees up to her chest and hid her face in her arms.  
>"You never told me this before... I'm sorry." He said as he sat beside her and put an arm around her.<br>"When Jorge went i almost died too... he dropped me off of the Long Night of Solace... and i nearly died from the impact. I realize he did what he did to try and save us... but i was so mad it myself for letting him die... just like i let Riley die. I didn't do- no." She stopped and looked him in the eye.

"I COULDN'T do anything. I was helpless. Just like i was with Kat and Carter."  
>"The Commander wasn't your fault!" Emile barked as he stood up and looked at her in disbelief.<br>"I could have stopped him. Am i not supposed to be a "Hyper Lethal Vector"? Just as The Master Chief is. He's destroyed so many Scarabs before... and i couldn't? What's wrong with this picture?" she stood to face him and laughed, tears streamed from her icy eyes. "I should have died to protect you guys... that way you could have kept your actual team and looked for another 6 again."  
>Emile frowned. "We never wanted another 6... We wanted you once we got to know you. You became a part of the family. And we would have done anything for you... that's why everyone did what they did Dante! You can't change the fact that some people actually care for you!" he looked mad.<br>"I don't have to see it..." she looked at the floor. "I'm sorry that i feel this way, but until i find my reasons for living i won't see the things you do. Or see life for what it really is."

Emile shook his head. "I don't understand what you mean Dante, but if it takes moving mountains..." he started to walk away. "Then to see you happy and living life to the fullest, your family will do it for you." He walked away leaving her with those words. They bit into her mind and left fissures and doubt in her lone wolf complex.

Emile walked into the main hall of the base and looked around. There was at least 3 inches of dust and debris on the ground. And some of the walls were scorched. He looked across the hall to find the others joining him.  
>"Well?" he asked.<br>"All clear..." Luke said as he kicked a peice of cement.  
>"Same on our end. We found the weapons room too. Pretty much cleared out. And there's a shit ton of Covvie corpses out in the Courtyard." Jarrod added as he looked behind Emile for Dante.<br>"She's not coming out right now. She's... depressed i think. For now all we can do is start on repairs. I think the base's roof first. And- oh! The labs?" he looked at Jun.  
>"they seem to be fairly in tact... from what i could see threw the small window. We need an access code to enter it." He sighed. "I bet 6 would have It."<br>"ah yes well... in the mean time let's get to work on cleaning this place up... Luke, Jarrod and Zach you guys can help me with the repairs on the roof. 3 you're on cleaning detail."  
>Jun starred at him with a glare and grumbled as everyone set off to work.<p>

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Rook awoke on the final morning to the sound of horns blaring outside his door. He sprung up and got his pants and a shirt on and ran out the door, his hair a mess. There were marines and ODSTs scattered about the hall. He looked around curiously and made eye contact with Romeo who waved him over.  
>"What's going on?" Rookie asked as he covered his ears.<br>"Just a drill!" Romeo yelled over the blasting noise.  
>Rook shook his head and began back towards his room when Romeo grabbed his arm.<br>"Come with me!" he shouted.  
>Rook ran through the halls with Romeo and they ducked into the hangar room and where shoved into a large frigate ship. As soon as they were in the doors shut and the ship lifted up and took off.<p>

"What the hell!?" Rook cried out as he fell on his face from the movement.  
>Romeo laughed. "What no one told you about this?"<br>Rook shook his head.  
>"Well we had to make a big scene so no one would see 2 giant ass ships leaving. This is supposed to be a hush hush mission right?"<br>"Oh... well um thanks." Rook rubbed the back of his head and stood. "Just wish someone would have told me that's all."  
>"Well i guess if you spent more of your time with your team and less wandering into ladies bathrooms you would know these things!" Dare said from the other side of the hangar with a laugh.<br>"THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT!" Rook shouted as a large blush crept across his face.

"Alright settle down and get strap in." Buck said as he walked in and took a seat. "it's going to be at least 48 hours by slip space to get to Reach so be nice to one another." Buck said as he looked at his team and smiled.  
>"Yeah yeah." Romeo said as he took a seat next to Mickey.<br>"Pffft is the boss going soft or something...? Usually he's harsher then that." Mickey remarked in a low tone to Romeo.  
>"I think it's because Dare is here." Romeo chuckled. "It seems that the Rookie isn't the only one who has the hots for someone out of his le- what's with the face Mickey?"<br>Mickey's face was straight and he was trying not to laugh. He pointed behind Romeo.  
>"OH- eh... hey boss." Romeo quickly turned and looked Buck in the eyes. "H-how's it goin?"<br>"Sit down and shut your mouth Romeo." His eye twitched.  
>Romeo sat.<p>

"So what exactly are we going to be doing when we get there?" Dutch asked as he looked over all of the crates in the hangar with them.  
>"Well from what i know we're going to do our best to re-build Reach." Dare said as she looked over a data pad. "Noble 6's team has already started by the data we received. Their base is operational and they are starting on the farmland now." She looked at them all. "Looks like our next mission is to re-build sword base..."<br>Buck sighed. "I remember how bad everything was there... are they going to do New Alexandria?"  
>"They may. The site of new Alexandria was obliterated..."<br>there was silence.  
>"Why is this Reach so important anyway?" Rookie inquired as he saw the sorrow filled looks of his team.<p>

They all looked at Rookie with a sympathetic look.  
>"Reach is- was the largest ship making planet for the UNSC. It is also the burial ground for most of the Spartan 2s... that's where most of them lost their lives, that's where they were trained and that's the place where the Covenant were looking for something. And we've seen from experience that when they find something they don't glass the planet entirely." Buck explained.<br>"So we're going to re-build a ship planet? What's so good about that?" Rook asked.  
>"Without ships how do we travel you idiot?" Mickey quirked as he shook his head. "How would we fight back against the Covenant?"<br>"Ah yes... i see what you mean... but how is re-building it going to work if it's mostly glassed?" Rookie asked.  
>"Very tediously. It's going to take a long time to make everything back to the way it was. And even with all of us working it could take years..." he sighed. "But let's just get over this journey first... I'm sure that Noble 6 has a plan."<p>

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Dante looked over the horizon as she stood atop the base. All the repairs had taken only a day and a half. It was excellent time. The sun was beginning to set on the second day and she had decided to go and see the surrounding area. And it was sad. She looked at all the shattered glass that lay across her once beautiful home. She squinted to see better into the distance and swore she could see someone walking. She shook her head and leapt off of the roof and ran to the vehicle bay.

Startled by Dante's sudden entrance, Jun dropped his rifle and stared at her. "Something wrong?" he asked quickly.  
>Dante was in a Warthog and zooming out of the base before he could finish. She tore off at full speed in the direction she had seen the figure. It could have been the light dancing off of the glass but she didn't want to take any chances. Anyone that could have been out there could be close to death. Reach fell more then 2 months ago. So anyone out there would have had to been out here for that long. The Warthog tore over the glass easily and she made good time. In no time at all she could see the form, see if fall to its knees and then onto its chest. She pressed the gass pedal further and slid to a stop in front of the body. She hopped out and fell to her knees, tears welling up in her eyes.<p>

She recovered quickly and ran over to him, pushing him onto his back.  
>"JORGE!" she screamed, he didn't respond.<p>

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OHOHOHOH theres another cliffy for yous! xD hope you liked it! :D


	10. A Life in the Balance

Chapter 10

A Life in the Balance

Disclaimer: i dunna own any charas but echo and rookies personality.

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Dante shook Jorge's shoulder, trying to wake him. She shoved against his shoulder and pushed him onto his back and removed his helmet. His eyes were closed and his nostrils flared every now and then with each breath he took. He placed her middle and index fingers on his jugular to check his pulse. It was quick. This wasn't a good sign. She hefted him over her shoulder as best she could and dragged him over to the warthog. She took a deep breath and lifted him into the passenger seat. Next she tossed his helmet into the storage compartment and got into the driver's seat.

"It's gunna be okay Jorge!" she said as she stepped on the gas. The warthog fishtailed as it spun around and sped back towards base. It wasnt long before the warthogs squealed to a stop in the vehicle bay and Dante was by Jorge's side. Jun jumped up again and dropped his rifle; he stared in disbelief at the man in the vehicle. It was Jorge, right? He couldn't believe his eyes. Dante screamed and ran to the wall were she picked up a com and shouted into it.  
>"EVERYONE TO THE VEHICLE BAY NOW!" She shouted.<br>She then ran back to the warthog and ripped the door open. Jorge nearly fell out but Jun was there to help her catch him.

The two of them carefully laid the massive Spartan onto the ground, 6 kneeled by his head and acted as his pillow. The others rushed in. Emile stopped dead in his tracks before the others.  
>"J-Jorge!?" Emile exclaimed as he saw the armor and helmet beside it. He looked to Dante who was looking down at Jorge, a pained expression on her face.<br>"He's dying... isn't he...?" 3 asked as he looked over 5's form.  
>"Not if i can help it... we need to get him into the Med-bay and hook him up with an I.V... Emile you're the only one aside from me that has some more advanced medical training so let's get him there ASAP and take his armor off... we need to get fluids into him now." She stood, carefully placing Jorge's head on the ground before doing so.<p>

Emile nodded and ran off into the med bay to get a stretcher. He returned within minutes and all together the team hefted Jorge up and onto the stretcher. Dante and Emile ran him into the med bay without hesitation and began to look through the supplies. There wasn't a lot on hand but there were a few bags of IV fluid among other not so useful things. They began to take Jorge' armor off, being careful to check him over for any broken bones, lacerations or bruising. They got down to his belt before stopping.

"He's so thin..." Emile remarked as he looked at Jorge's thin stomach.  
>"He's probably been living off of mission rations since everything... i wonder how he's still alive..." Dante said sadly.<br>"He's strong..."  
>"Strong or not you don't just survive a slip space blast like that... something had to have gone wrong."<br>"You think so..?"  
>"I know so... but we'll talk about this once we get him all hooked up." Dante said as she began to remove his calf armor and boots.<p>

Once all of his armor was removed and set aside Emile began to place the needle into 5s arm. He then set up the IV drip and shook his head.  
>"I hope he wakes up soon... we need to get some food into him as well as ask him what the hell happened..." Emile sighed and looked at the clock on the wall. "The only thing we can do is wait now... until he wakes up le-"<br>"I'm not leaving. I'll stay and look after him. Go and assist the others with the removal of the corpses in the back court yard." Her voice was dead and dull.  
>"Alright... just don't do anything stupid. Call me if anything happens." Emile said as he left the room.<p>

Dante looked at Jorge's chest, his breathing was laboured and his skin clung to his body in an unnatural fashion.  
>"I'm sorry this happened to you Jorge." She whispered as she stood and walked over to his pile of armor. She picked up his helmet and pulled out the memory chip. "Lets see what happened to you..." she walked over to the AI port in the med bay and slipped the memory chip in. A data pad immediately displayed a feed from the ship.<p>

The feed was from his line of site. And so she watched intently. Watched as the pelican was assaulted by plasma and then watched as she ran out of the control room hallway and to his side. Then the slaughter that happened afterwards. Watched her fade away into space, falling towards reach. And then the new video began. Things she didn't know that had happened.

Jorge moved over to the panel and activated the bomb. He turned his head as a beam fell onto some marines and then another fell onto him. The camera blacked out for a moment before there was a loud static crackle. Then the camera came back on. Jorge stood and looked around. The marines were dead that was for sure. The room was dark and there was little to no sound to be heard. She shook his head and looked out the bay of the ship. It was dark. The stars reflected off of the glass surface on the ground. "Is this reach?" he asked himself as he stepped through the deactivated barrier. He must have been out for a few days. There were no fires burning in the distance, no screams to be heard, and no people in sight.

He sighed and stretched his sore limbs before walking over to his pack. It was full of supplies; rations, water canteens, purifiers, flares, maps, and some ammo. He shook his head and placed his pack onto his back and looked through the debris for his turret. He moved around some beams and found it near the doors to the hallway that led to the control room. Only there was no ship beyond the doors. It was just gone. Jorge shrugged it off and grabbed his turret and made his way out of the ship. He looked around from the mountain side where the ship had crashed and gasped at the destruction around him. There was nothing but glass as far as the eye could see. He set his visor to zoom, and still the only thing on the horizon was glass.

"I guess... I'll just start walking..." he said as he started to walk down the mountain. There as a time skip to a few nights before. There was a flash in the sky and he looked up. He could hear the chopping of blades. It was a falcon in the sky. He lit a flare. The falcon passed by. He followed for a while before resting. And then the next morning there was a frigate. He followed it. The camera cut out. It cut back in as a warthog sped towards him.

Dante stared at the screen as it went black. Zach had been right. It wasn't light reflection on the glass below but a flare... she looked back at Jorge and a wave of guilt washed over her as she realized he would be up and talking if they had picked him up that night. This was her fault.  
>"I'm sorry Jorge." She said as she walked over to him and pulled over a stool to sit beside him. "I'll make sure you get through this. And I'll stay with you through it too." She held his hand and looked to the tiled floor.<p>

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-2 days later-

Rookie jumped out of the Frigate and looked around. The land was being torn up by giant tractors and excavators. They lay unmanned currently and only one of the team came out to greet the two new frigates. It was Emile.  
>"Where's everyone else" Buck asked as he walked out behind Rook.<br>"There were some... problems. You see Dante she found another member of our team and she's taking it really hard..." Emile explained. "And so everyone is in the base doing what they can. I was told about your arrival and so i came out to greet you all. It would be better if you all set up in the marine's barracks for the moment."  
>The ODSTs nodded in understanding and went to unload their gear into the second building of the base. The marines in the other frigate following suit.<p>

Rookie hopped down and ran over to Emile.  
>"Not now Rookie." Emile growled.<br>"But i need to know." Rookie paused for a moment. "Is the member going to live?"  
>"We don't know... it's not looking good. He's been with us for two days now and hasn't woken up. He's been on a steady IV drip and the Boss hasn't left his side. She doesn't think he's going to make It."<br>"How... was he still on Reach?"  
>"He lived through a slip space explosion some how... and was wandering around on Reach for the last two months. He's very thin and under nourished. So we're doing all we can to help him. Do me a favor?"<br>Rookie nodded.  
>"Go look in your ships stock books for medical supplies and then bring them all into the main med bay." Emile looked tired, his eyes held dark circles under them and his voice was quiet.<br>"I will. I'll get it to you as soon as i can." With that Rookie ran back into the ship and Emile walked back into the base.

Rookie looked around for the charts and found it hanging on a nearby wall. He grabbed it and scanned through its contents until he found the medical section. There were several crates filled with various supplies so he called in a few marines.  
>"Alright we need all these crates into the main building now." Rookie said as he lifted one of the crates with another marines help.<br>They all nodded and started to bring in the crates.

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_He could hear a screeching noise and an alarmed voice. There was a sense of inertia and of being moved. Then stability and more voices. They sounded worried. There were familiar voices and ones that were alien. He couldn't move or open his eyes. He was so tired and thirsty. There was another feeling of movement before there he started to feel cold. It wasn't all at once, it was slow and in parts. First his chest, then his arms. And then a pause. Then more cold followed by a stab in his right arm. Then a feeling of cool liquid rushing into him. 'Is that an iv?' he though as he relished the feeling. It was nice and relaxing to finally have a cool feeling rather than hot and sticky. He fell into oblivion and let the cold wash over his exhausted body. If this is what death felt like then he would gladly accept it. Especially after the turmoil he had just been through._

_He awoke to more voices. They sounded angry and agitated. There were no unfamiliar ones this time. Only ones that he used to hold dear to his heart. The female one sounded closer to him, and the male one was off to the side and above him. It was calming to hear these two arguing. It reminded him of times from long ago when he was still strong and by their sides. The female moved away and yelled at the other to get out. There was a pause and then silence. Then nothing again as sleep took him over once again. Dragging him down into the dark of mindlessness. _

Dante looked over her friend's body and sighed.  
>"Please Jorge... wake up..." she said as tears rolled down her face and she laid her head on his bed. "Please..."<br>he said nothing, he didn't move. He only laid there, trapped in his own mind._  
><em>

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Ahaah another short one sorry. But i will have more up soon!_  
><em> 


	11. Back in Action

Chapter 11.

Back in action

Disclaimer: i dunna own any charas but echo and rookies personality.

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"Do you love him?" Emile asked as he looked into the med bay from the door way. His eyes focused on Jorge's sleeping face.  
>"What do you mean?" Dante asked, her voice was quiet and neutral.<br>"Exactly what it sounds like. Do you love Jorge?" he asked again.  
>"Yes... but not in the way your thinking. I don't love him like... a partner... i love him..."<br>"Like a Brother... right?" he moved closer and rested a hand on her shoulder.  
>"Yes. You can say that... an older brother. One that i don't ever want to lose. And now that i lost him and he has come back... I just don't ever want to go through losing him again. I want them all back... everyone i ever lost. But it's not like that will happen and i know that. Because there is no way to bring someone back to life... not for real anyway."<p>

Emil sighed and looked at Dante. "I know. And that is very true, but don't waste time mourning. You should celebrate life. Just like you should celebrate his too... he'll get better. You just have to give it time. Now let's go outside. There are some people waiting to see you." He smiled. "I don't want to lose him either you know."  
>She looked up and into his bright green eyes. "You're lying... you never liked Jorge..." she shook her head and stood.<br>"No that's not how it was. It was a rivalry. And we became close during it... you could say that Jorge was everyone's big brother." He smiled and held out his hand.  
>She took it and sighed. "Who will look after him if i leave?"<br>"well there's this fancy thing called a Doctor. While you were spaced out the other ships arrived."

Dante ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "I didn't realize that it had been more than a day. I'll go suit up and meet you outside." She rolled her shoulders and looked out the door. "I'm sorry about going off and closing up like that. You guys don't need that from a leader. I'll be out soon."  
>"Don't worry about Brigadier General Dante." Emile laughed as he watched her go. "Just don't let it happen again."<br>"i can assure you that it won't." She walked down the hall and turned into the armory.  
>The walls were bare aside from three tubes. Each contained a suit of armor. The middle was hers, all clean and ready to go. She smiled as she looked into the sapphire face plate. "Hello again my friend. We are going to do great things again." She smiled and opened the tube, stepping back as it de-pressurized.<p>

Dante quickly slipped on each piece of armor on and rolled her shoulders. Then jumped up and down to work the stiffness out of her limbs. She then took a few steps around the room. It felt natural to be back in armor. She felt less naked this way. "I better go outside then... i have people to greet and a world to re-build." She sighed. "it's times like these when i wish i had an A.I partner to talk to... it would make me seem less crazy when i talk to myself..." she sighed and shook her head before walking out the courtyard doors. Instantly she was greeted by salutes from many Marines and a few Doctors. They were all running around carrying crates, duffle bags and some were even driving forklifts with huge cases of supplies. It was good to see more people around that would help with things. She walked over to a pole with a data pad sticking to it and read it over. It was the planning roster for how things were going to be set up. First things first were the farms and a small lake near them to supply fresh water. That was a good idea. A hungry team was a useless team.

Next was the re-building of New Alexandria. Dante sighed. "What would you call it...? New New Alexandria...?" she shook her head and continued to read. By the time she finished the list for the year's planning she was impressed. They wanted to have at least another base in operation as well as a frigate base. This was do-able so long as there were no complications. She nodded and set the data pad back onto the post and looked around to the other Frigates. There were two others set off to the right of the base, and her teams ship Truth Behind Lies to the left. "No sense in looking that one over." She muttered as she began walking toward the first one. It looked more like a cargo frigate then a fighter. There were no visible MAC cannons or turrets visible.  
>"Was this the main cargo shipping ship?" she asked a marine who was positioned at the entrance.<br>He saluted quickly before answering. "Yes Ma'am. This ship help most of the ammo, armor, vehicles and landscaping equipment as well as the soil."  
>"ah that's good. How many men?"<br>"There were 550 aboard this one and another 200 in the other."

Dante nodded and stepped closer to the Marine. "Classifications?"  
>"Sir?"<br>"Jobs. How many Doctors, scientists, technicians, Marines...?"  
>"Oh uh sorry. There were about 5 Doctors, 15 Nurses, 30 scientists, 200 farmers, 6 ODSTS, 30 Techs and the rest are made up of assorted ranking Marines." He looked back into the ship and nodded. "At least I'm pretty sure that's the count for people."<br>"thank you marine." Dante nodded and walked away. "At least we have a good count of people..." she walked over to the other ship and smiled. This was the ship she wanted to see. As soon as she walked up the ramp into the cargo bay there was nothing but crates of guns. And a few stands that held ODST armor.

"Hands up." Someone from behind ordered. Dante froze for a split second before she jumped up and back flipped around her assailant. She yanked the pistol from his hand and threw it to the side before backing the person up into the wall and slamming him against it.  
>You can't take me that easily. You're still a baby, ten times too young to try and take me Rook." Dante said with a laugh.<br>Rookie groaned and slumped against the wall.  
>"Next time you think you're going to try and take me on you had better be prepared for a lot worse then what you just got." She shook her head and let him go.<br>He fell to the floor and rolled onto his back, he looked up into her faceplate and rolled his eyes. "I never intended to fight you. I just wanted to say hi and the last time i tried you yelled at us all... i was only being careful. Sheesh." He got up and cracked his back. "No need to break my back."  
>Dante laughed. "Quit your bitching and help me with something will you?"<br>"Um sure..?" he asked, his eye brows arching into a quizzical expression.  
>"I need to set up a lab. And no one can know about it." She motioned for him to follow her off of the ship and towards the base.<br>He followed her without hesitation. "What do you need me for though..." he asked as he followed.

She stopped and held her right index finger up to her visor. "You'll know in time. Right now until everything is set up you don't need to worry about it. Go fetch me Emile and meet me in the vehicle bay ASAP. This is a mission of great secrecy. So make it fast." Her visor depolarized and she looked at him with a serious face. "Please make sure no one follows or hears you."  
>Rook nodded and took off to find Emile.<br>Dante walked into the vehicle bay and looked over a Falcon they had brought in days before. It was in good running condition and looked to be full of fuel. She opened the hatch and hoped in as the two men walked in. She motioned for them to get in and closed the hatch. She began the preparations for takeoff and flicked on the com between the seats and pilot.

"It's nice and all that you're out of the med bay... but ugh... are you sure it's okay for you to be doing whatever your doing?"  
>"Emile, i was looking over Jorge, not dying of Cancer you idiot. Shut up and wait until we land. I'll explain everything once we're there."<br>"Once we're WHERE." He asked again  
>Dante scoffed in agitation. "As impatient as ever Emile. We're going to be building a lab in an area of forest- or soon to be forest. In this lab we will be trying to re-create life. Cloning if you will."<br>"Wait... isn't that forbidden?" Rook asked as he sat back in his seat more.  
>"Not for me it isn't. We're getting a shard of a long since dead AI. We'll be starting with that. I asked for clearance on this so that i can bring back Noble..."<br>"you realize how crazy that is right?" Emile asked as he shook his head and covered his eyes with his left hand.  
>"Crazy? Can you imagine how fast the tides would turn if we really were un-killable? If we could be in any part of the system at the same time? Think about that... reconstructing life... we would be gods." Dante explained with a hint of authority in her voice. "It can and will be done."<p>

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"So this is your 'fallen' comrade? He seems to be in a coma of sorts. You realize there isn't much i can do for him aside from keeping his IV fluids going and his temperature stable." The Doctor said as he looked over a chart and then at Jun.  
>"i don't care what you have to do just do it... if the commander finds out that you can't help him she'll flip out and have my head on a spike... or worse." Jun gulped. "Isn't there anything you can do? I mean you guys made us into Spartans and did all sorts of things! Hell you even found cures for things back on earth! Why can't you wake him up..? I mean i know what a coma is but still it can be that hard. Can't you just inject him with some kind of wake up medicine? Please just do your best... i know that's all you can do but this is something very serious... oh i would hate to see Dante being so pissed as to kick my head in... Or worse yet... she may even kill me or you." Jun was pacing the room and clutching the sides of his head. "We're screwed you know. SCREWED."<br>the Doctor stared at him with a hand to his forehead. "Now i see why you always get left behind. For a sniper and stealthier you sure do talk a lot." He sighed and looked over to Jorge. "The big man will wake up when he sees fit. And not a moment before."  
>"ACK! Damnit you're useless then! If Dante finds out that we can't do anything..." Jun began to pace the room again.<br>"She won't do anything. She knows that this is something that can't simply be cured. This is a matter of playing the waiting game Jun. Now please either calm down and sit or take you're insistent pacing outside where it can't annoy me."

Jun stopped and slumped against the wall. "I'm sorry it's just that I'm really worried about him! He's been through so much and there isn't anything i can do to help... maybe i should go clean his armor or repair his turret or something oh jeeze i don't know... am i really this bad at helping?"  
>the doctor sighed and glared at Jun. "here's a thought. Go see what you can help with at the farm that everyone's starting to build."<br>"Ah that's an excellent idea." Jun stood and bounced out of the room. "Thanks for the idea!"  
>"finally some peace and quiet." The Doctor muttered as he sat at a medical desk and looked over the data charts. He hummed a soft tune as he dug around in a small box next to the desk and produced a small vial. It held fine sand and he smiled. Then walked up to Jorge and sat at Dante's stool.<p>

"Alright big Fella. Your team misses you. I think it's time to wake up." He opened the small vial and held it to Jorge's nose. It didn't take long before Jorge's eye's flitted open and he coughed. "Welcome back to the state of wakefulness Noble 5." The Doctor smiled.  
>"w-where... am i...?" he asked, his voice thick with grogginess.<br>"Ah well you see you are at Noble base on the planet Reach. Do you remember this place?" the Doctor asked.  
>"H-how is that even possible. I saw this place. It was almost barren and destroyed... not alive and together like this is now..."<br>"well that's why we were able to save you. You're leader; the leader of Noble was given clearance to re-build reach if she could. She has a year to do so before she is sent off to become a Freelancer in assassinations again. That is if she doesn't complete her mission."  
>"Her? But our commander was a man, Carter..."<br>"Ah. Well... i better not say much more on that matter. Please if you are able i need you to sit up so we can run through some tests. The tests will be to see if you are able to move properly and how much rehabilitation therapy you will have to go through."  
>Jorge obeyed the Doctor, all the while having countless questions running through his mind.<p>

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"Why here?" Emile asked as he got out of the Falcon and looked around. The earth wasn't as glassed here. It was still muddy and earthy. Only it was under a thin layer of glass. "I mean this isn't exactly a likely place to build a Lab..."  
>"you really are an idiot Emile. This is an area that already has a lab under it. It was one of Dr. Halsey's when she was still on Reach. I'm fortunate enough that it wasn't in the main glassing area..."<br>"lucky that it's not too destroyed over here too... what made them stop glassing Reach anyway?" Rookie asked, he was kneeled beside the falcon looking through the glass at the mud underneath.  
>"Apparently there was some kind of artifact that they were after and so they stopped..." Dante said as she looked in the back of the falcon for a small box.<p>

She picked it up and undid the flaps and smiled at the small device inside.  
>"What the hell is that little thing...?" Emile asked as he looked it over.<br>"This little thing is going to destroy all this glass you moron. Step back and watch." She threw the device into the air and it expanded into a 5 foot by 5 foot spider like robot. "Sequence 505 activation code 30746." Dante said into a small mic that she clipped to her ear. The robot hummed to life and began walking over the earth, its abdomen spilling out a yellow liquid that began to eat away the glass. It looked like salt dissolving into water.  
>"Whoa that's cool." Rook said as he stood and stared at the robot.<br>"Yes it is. Now let's go back to base. He'll keep going until he runs out of the solution in his butt." She laughed. "This really is a nifty tool we have here. Saves us the trouble of having to break up and move all of the glass."  
>"yeah but where does the glass go when it dissolves like that?" Emile asked as he stared at the Spider.<br>"It breaks down and evaporates. The spider sucks up the chemically infected air, filters it and spits out clean air. Very efficient i think. The farmers have about a dozen of these working for them from what i read on the rosters. I decided to check it out."

The two of them nodded and got back into the Falcon. Dante followed them into the seat area and took her helmet off. "Now to tell you of the main plan." She wiped her forehead lightly before looking at the ground. "This really isn't going to be easy. It's going to be time consuming and very vexing. No one can know and we have to be safe about it too. The only thing that can ruin this experiment is unwanted eyes peering in on it. You tell no one. And if you need to report to me you do it in private." She looked up into each of their eyes and held their gazes for a moment. They nodded and stayed silent. "The AI we are going to try to bring back to 'life'" she used air quotes for this, "is called Deep Winter. He was the AI that helped with most of the training with our teacher... Kurt." She looked to Emile's reaction, it was sad. "If we are successful in brining Deep Winter back then we will be permitted to try to clone our minds to create our own AI's. After this step we try it on an Animal... and study the living specimen. If it is like the original we will be aloud again to further our research. But we won't get to those details until later. I need your full confidence in this project." She looked back to the floor.

"You have it in me." Rook said. "But... why us?"  
>"yeah... you have a base full of people who could help you... people with experience..." Emile remarked as he leaned forward.<br>"Because I've fought beside both of you in dire times and i feel like i can trust you, even if it's a little." She said as she looked back to them. She smiled a little and sighed. "Don't make me regret this okay?" she winked and put her helmet back on before stepping out of the Falcon and getting back into the pit so she could take off.

Rook looked out the side and sighed. "Looks like we're in for another wild ride."  
>"Only thing is... this whole 'playing god' thing... can be a lot more dangerous then the battle field..." Emile said, his tone laced with worry.<br>"I'm sure she knows what she's doing though Emile. Have faith in that at least. And we've already defied life more than a few times. I'm sure everything will go smoothly."  
>"If only life were that simple Rook." Emile sighed.<p>

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A bit longer then the last one. Hope you liked it. In the next chapter we will be seeing Jorge getting back on his feet and joining in on some of the sneaky little missions my 6 has planned. ;3  
>(and sorry for the bits of crude and or rude humor i have -.-'''")<p> 


	12. Just think about it

Chapter 12.

Just think about it.

Disclaimer: i dunna own any charas but echo and rookies personality.

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The Falcon landed back at the base with no problems at all. Dante and the two men stepped out of the craft and walked into the vehicle bay. They were instantly greeted by marines who took over the maintenance of the falcon and their gear. Dante looked over her dust covered suit.  
>"Well... all that glass destroying sure caused a dust storm... i barely even noticed it all." She walked through a few hallways before coming to the armory. Emile and Rook trailing close behind her.<p>

It didn't take long before her armor was off, cleaned and placed back into its tube. She stepped back and nodded, pleased with her work. Looking around her she noted that the others were waiting for her.  
>"You take care of that suit as if it were your baby or something." Rook chuckled.<br>"Well... i need it to be in its top condition when i use it. And thus i take care of it." She said frankly.  
>Emile laughed lightly before giving them a wave of dismissal. "Well i need to go and check on the farms and see how they are making out with the glass clearing and such." He ducked out of the room and disappeared down the hall back towards the vehicle bay.<p>

Rook stood there for a moment before walking over to Dante and holing out a hand. "Let's go see how Jorge is doing." His face was hopeful and he smiled slightly.  
>Dante stopped for a moment and just looked him over. Now that she was paying attention to him she noticed that he was actually pretty handsome. His face was smooth and curved, but still had a square tinge to it. His ear length jet black hair was messy and silky looking. His lips were thin but a light red. And his nose was slightly crooked. Finally her eyes came to his and she couldn't help the smile that crept up onto her lips. His eyes were a dark blue. Like a midnight sky around the moon. She nodded and pushed his hand away but walked beside him instead.<p>

"I think going to see him would be a good idea... maybe he's waken up by now." Her pace was brisk as hope filled her heart.  
>"Let's hope so." Rook said with a smile and tried his best to keep up to the Spartan. <p>

It took only a few moments for the two of them to reach the med bay where Jorge was to be sleeping. Dante stopped dead in the door way before giving a loud whoop and running into the room. There was a loud crash as Rook ran into the door. Dante was on the floor with Jorge, laughing. Rook smiled and walked over to the two of them. Jorge was wide awake and smiling at Dante, holding her to his chest. Even though he was extremely emaciated he was still strong. Dante got up quickly and helped him to his feet.

"I was so worried when i found you, you know that...?" Dante said as she wiped a tear from her eye.  
>'What... it's like she's completely changed... she was so serious before...' Rook thought as he watched the two Spartans talk.<br>"I... thought i was dead to be honest. I saw a falcon the night before i think. But i couldn't be sure. I even lit flares..." Jorge explained.  
>Dante looked sad for a moment. "i know... one of my men saw it and told me about it... but i passed it off for a light from our falcon reflecting off the glass... I'm so sorry... i just wish we could have gotten to you sooner... before you broke down like that..." she led Jorge over to his medical bed and let him sit down.<br>"It would have been nice... but I'm just glad that I'm okay after all. I am truly grateful for you finding me."

Dante paced the room and waved the thanks off. "I'm sure you have questions about everything don't you?" she asked as she watched Rook take a seat on a padded bench near the Doctor's desk.  
>"That i do... starting with... where the rest of Noble Team is..." his eyes turned dark as he prepared himself for the worst.<br>Dante sat down on the floor and sighed. She crossed her legs and looked up at him. "You want to hear it from when you left us... or what?" she asked, her eyes sad.  
>Rook watched her and listened.<br>"Yes... i think that would be best." Jorge said as he nodded.  
>"Well... here it is then." She closed her eyes and began from the begging.<p>

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(AU: I'm a little rusty with how the things of Reach went as i haven't played it in sometime... so bear with me.)

_She slammed into the ground hard. The impact into the ground rattled her bones and knocked the breath from her lungs. She fought to sit up and then to stand. Her right hand clutched around a single pair of dog tags, her left around a pistol she found laying on the ground. She trudged up a ledge to overlook the city of New Alexandria. That would be her only hope of finding her other teammates. _

_She arrived in the city without much of a hitch. That's when the problems started. There were countless suicide grunts that rushed her. Many of them almost killing her. Then to top it off, Jackals had their backs. It wasn't hard to dispose of the vulture headed freaks. She continued on through the city, disposing of any covenant that crossed her path. Until she came upon a team of ODST's with jetpacks. She had taken one and flew with them across a high top of buildings and destroyed handfuls of brutes. She continued on with the ODST's until an evacuation building was set. She cleared out countless more brutes, donning a fuel rod cannon and a plasma pistol. She cleared the area out and boarded a falcon to take her to the next area to see if she could help._

_And help she could. She wiped the area of Covenant and hit the button to signal the transports and missiles.  
>"Civilian transport away, you saved allot of lives today, Spartan." A Trooper told Dante over a com.<br>she walked over to s a clearing near the building and watched overhead as the transports flew off.  
>"... Copy? Repeat; this is Noble 2. Noble 6, Noble 5, do you copy?"<br>Dante responded to the COM immediately. "This is 6. Go ahead, Noble 2."  
>"we picked up your transport about an hour ago, but we could not risk open comms. The covenant have this place locked down tight. And we're getting nothing from Jorge." Kat said with a hint of agitation.<br>Dante was silent for a moment.  
>"Is something wrong Noble 6?"<br>"no... Noble 5 didn't make it." Her voice was like ice.  
>"... Understood. What is the situation at Starport exit?"<br>"last transport away..."  
>"alright, we're brining you to us." The com went dead.<br>Dante stood there for a moment before lighting a signal flare and waiting._

_The pelican came within an hour and took her to a high up building in New Alexandria. The sun had already begun to set and she was wishing more than ever to be out of here. The pelican touched down and she was greeted with the sound of Kat's voice on her com again, telling her to destroy things. That made her smile. She went throughout the city and did as she was told; all the while her rage was building over the helplessness of humanity. _

_No matter her efforts, by the end she had joined with the rest f her team, however New Alexandria's fate was sealed by a salvo of plasma that began to glass the once Crown Jewel. A radiation blast knocked the building and forced the crew to flee into service elevators, not before a sniper round took Kat's life right before her very eyes. She caught her body before it fell and fired upon the sniper. It fell before her, clutching a needle rifle. Dante quickly picked it up before turning to the rest of the group. _

_She watched as Carter spun around on his heels and ran for her. Watched as he picked up Kat's lifeless body and rushed into the service elevator. And heard his agonized cries through his helmet. They made it to a bunker below the building and she had to look away as Carter ripped his helmet off and cried. He cradled Kat's body to him and rocked back and forth, moaning his sorrows to the world. Emile made his way over to her and patted her shoulder.  
>"I'm sorry. It seems like i keep failing to protect your team... (<em>AU: this right here will explain Dante and Emile's strong Friendship._) I was right there beside both of them each time... and i couldn't do anything. Forgive me." She said as she turned to him.  
>He remained silent for a few moments. The only sounds in the bunker were Carter's cries. He shook his head and placed his other hand on her other shoulder and said in a soft, hushed whisper. "Please. It's not your fault. I could no more protect my family then you could... just promise me you'll do your best to protect the rest of us..." his voice shook. And it only took Dante a moment to realize that inside his helmet he was crying. <em>

_She placed and arm around him and hugged him, patting his back. She knew he could no more feel her touch then she could his, but the gesture could speak volumes. Especially for Spartans. He shook his head and hugged her back.  
>"I am very serious when i say i will do my best to protect you... if you do the same." She stepped back and held out a hand. He shook it.<br>"Partners... alright? Let nothing happen to the other." He said in a soft tone.  
>"I agree... and i respect that you feel so strongly about your comrades... enough that you would un-steel yourself in front of me and cry... perhaps one day i will be able to do the same." She nodded and squeezed his hand one more time before letting go and walking over to console Carter. <em>

_A few days later came a new order. To destroy Sword base in a torch and burn opp. They were air lifted from the bunker and brought to a location near sword base to clear out the covenant so that reinforcements could land. Dante took a small force of ODST soldiers with her and made her way towards Sword. On the way she found a Scorpion class tank and took it along for the ride. She rid the area of 2 anti air guns along the way and countless Covenant. Things went smoothly until just outside of Sword base. There multiple plasma turrets that pinned her and her ODST's down. After a while of struggling she managed to take them out with the help of her ODST's. The falcons landed with reinforcements and picked up the ODST's. She made her way into Sword with Noble. _

_The sight inside was enough to make her knees week with helplessness. The interior of the base was destroyed and she couldn't help but feel a heavy burden upon her chest. When the team began to descend into an unknown area designated by the A.I Aunty Dot, she felt a chill go down her spine. Something was wrong._

_And there it was. The battle that unfolded in front of her while waiting for Dr. Halsey to finish was what she dreaded. The battle was long and seemed endless; Emile stuck by her side for the entire thing. And they saved eachother countless times, either from a fuel rod shot, or a charging Bute. It seemed to go on forever before the doors finally opened. And inside she was given the A.I Cortana. A vital part for humanity to win the war. _

_That's when the group split up, Jun left with Halsey and Dante went with the other 2. _

_It was now time to take the package to the Pillar of Autumn. But there were more complications. Banshees this time. They forced Dante and Emile to jump from the Pelican as Carter drew their fire. Dante and Emile made their way through hell. They came upon a Canyon and were forced to stop as a Scarab blocked their path.  
>"SHIT! We're blocked." Emile cursed as he shoved Dante against a wall to get the out of the way as a shot was fired from the Scarab.<br>"I'll take care of this. Make sure you protect her and get her to the ship!" Carter said over the Com to Emile.  
>"WAIT! You're not doing what i think-"<br>"this isn't up for debate. Noble 1 signing off."  
>"Good luck commander... see you on the other side." Emile saluted up at the pelican as it flew over head.<em>

_Carter closed his eyes and let a few tears flow from his eyes as he readied himself for the end.  
>"I'll be with you soon Kat..." he murmured as the pelican took a fiery plunge into the Scarab. <em>

_Dante stopped moving for a moment and stared as molten steel rained down from the sky.  
>"... let's move." Emile said as his shoulders slumped. He looked defeated.<em>

_After a lot more fighting and hardships they made it to the ship yard. Dante handed over the A.I and looked back. She screamed as she saw an Elite jump from a ship and stab Emile from his seat in the A.A gun. She rushed up and assassinated multiple Elites on her way to him.  
>"YOU BASTARDS TOOK MY BROTHER, I WILL NOT LET YOU TAKE MY FRIEND TOO!" she roared as she came upon the sword Elite that stood over Emile's unmoving body. <em>

_Its mandible hooked into a dark, toothy grin as it raised its sword and roared a challenge at her. She took it with ease and rushed at him, pulling her knife from its sheath on her shoulder and screaming. The elite swung first and Dante ducked, just barely missing the sizzling hot energy from her head. The elite laughed and kicked her to the ground. She hit the ground with her arms like Kurt had taught her and rolled back to her feet. She huffed and ran towards the Elite, her knife tucked beside her arm so the elite wouldn't be able to see which hand she held it in. But he wasn't that stupid. The elite caught her arm and threw her over the railing back towards where she had come from. _

_Dante hung onto the railing and cursed as she pulled herself up. Just as she swung her body over the rail another sizzling swing from the sword slashed into her back. It just barley grazed the first few layers of her armor. She swore as she fell forward. The elite stood over her with a grim smirk. That's when Dante saw her opportunity. She rolled to the side and got up in a flash and tackled the elite, burying her knife deep into its neck. The elite roared in rage as the knife penetrated its jugular. Dante pulled the knife out and stabbed again and again until her enemy lay lifeless before her. _

_She snapped out of her rage in the instant that she heard a cough behind her. She ran to him and kneeled beside him, unclipping his helmet and removing it.  
>"Are you alright...?" she asked, removing a can of Bio-Foam from her pack and filling his sword wound.<br>He cried out in pain as the foam filled his body, and then sighed as it numbed.  
>"I... should be... and you...? I heard you scream..." he said weekly.<br>"Only because i feared i would break my promise to you." She nodded and helped him up._

"_Let's... try to get off this wasteland..." Dante said.  
>The only reply she got from Emile was a week nod.<br>She picked him up and put him on her back, carrying him._

"_I won't let you die Emile... i promise you." She said as he slept. "I swear by my blood that you won't die before me." _

_They had walked for a few hours; it was just about sunset before she looked on her scanner and noted the growing danger. Every now and then she would notice a dead Spartan here and there... but not that they were at a small outpost she noticed the ground was covered in them. Their equipment and weapons littered the ground. And red flared on her motion tracker. Emile noticed it too. He was still weak but could stand and fight on his own if he had to. And now he really had to. _

_They had split up, Dante, leading a group of Elites away from the wounded Emile. Her helmet lay on the ground not too far away from her, cracked and useless. She fought off many elites before falling. Her doom was upon her and she knew it. Her limbs were sore and ached to the point that every move she made was laboured and hard. Her breathing came in deep rasping gasps and she was covered in sweat and blood. Countless scrapes, bruises, burns and slashes covered her body. She watched as 3 elites circled over head of her and laughed. And just as the energy sword came down to kill her it was gone. Along with the elites. They lay where they had stood, dying and gasping for breath. _

_It was then that she noticed the flicker of a bubble shield around her. Emile walked through it and helped her up, a rocket launcher was magnetized to his back and her helmet was clipped to his utility belt. She took his hand and stood beside him.  
>"Thank you..." she said softly as he stood motionless. She couldn't tell what he was looking at. "Is something wrong...?" she asked.<br>"No. It's just that, this entire time... I've never seen your face... that's all. It's nice to see the face of my partner." He chuckled and patted her back. "Let's go... before more of them come."  
>They walked side by side in silence for the next while, enjoying having a partner.<em>

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"And then we met up with Jun and Halsey at Sword Base... and rescued the ODST's in new Mombasa... i asked to come here and re-build... and then we found you." Dante finished. She looked up at Jorge and then to Rook. Rook's face was pale and he held back tears. Jorge was another story. He looked green and tears flowed freely from his eyes. She stood and walked over to him and shook her head. "I'm sorry for the bad news Jorge..." she shook her head and walked out.

Jorge just sat there, absorbing all of the information he had just acquired. Rook looked at him for a moment before following Dante. He caught up to her leaning on the wall outside of her room.  
>"That was hard for you wasn't it...?" Rook asked as he placed his left hand on her right shoulder.<br>"It was..." her voice was soft and sad.  
>"Come here..." Rook said as he cautiously pulled her to him in a hug. She didn't deny him as he thought she would, but instead buried her face in his shoulder. Her body shook as he held her against him and he stroked her hair. "I'm sorry Dante, but if you think about it... there really isn't anything you could have done to save the other members okay...?" he led her into her room and sat with her on the bed. "Look at it this way... Jorge is still alive and is safe now, and you should be thinking of that rather than your loss. Celebrate the life that is there... but also mourn... but do not let that mourning consume you." He lifted her chin to look at him and smiled.<p>

Dante looked back up at him, her eyes hazy with exhaustion. She nodded softly before her eyelids drooped and she slumped against him, fast asleep. He smiled softly before laying her down on her bed and stripping her of her boots. He placed them under the window and covered her with a blanket.  
>"Good night Dante... see you in the morning." He walked out and closed the door, then leaned against it. "This Woman... i swear i will follow her to the ends of the earth." He said with a wistful smile.<p>

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Ehhh? Ehhhh? Thats right, flashback for the most part, but then a little heart to heart with Dante and Rook. Sorry haven't updated in FOREVER :''| but i'm back now... i had so much to do with Christmas, new years and then school too... thanks for reading! See you all again soon i hope... .-.


	13. Facing your problems

Chapter 13

Facing your problems.

Disclaimer: i dunna own any charas but echo and rookies personality.

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_"Where am i?"_

_"With me."_

_"And who... Are you?"_

_"You mean you forgot?"_

_"How could i? You sound so familiar."_

_"I should hope so."_

_"Then show me." _

_"Just remember first. Then i will tell you everything you need to know before your year is up." _

_"How do you know about that?"_

_"I live within you. My soul is as much a part of you as your own." _

_Dante floated in the dark grey of her dream and pondered this for a moment. _

_"Riley." She uttered the word in a soundless whisper. _

_There was a slight flare and suddenly she was standing outside of noble base, in the field not too far away. _

_"That took you long enough." He said as he appeared next to her, he was small and transparent. His eyes sparkled with some unknown source as he looked up at her._

_"I apologize..." She muttered as she looked down in shame. "It's been a very long time. _

_"It has... We can be together again, you know." He said as he looked up at the unmoving sky. There was no breeze or sound of animals. It was like the world was frozen in time. _

_"How?"_

_He laughed and tugged on her hand. "I remember when it was like this... Always so full of questions... And curiosity. Well... Before we can be together, and by that i mean bring me out of your mind and into the world, you need to complete three tasks for me." _

_She looked down at him and knelt. "Anything." _

_"First of all, you need to rebuild the crown jewel. Second is you need to face your fear of being close to people. And lastly you need to create life. Once all of these requirents are met you will be able to re-create me. Does that make sense at all?" His voice was serious. His features hard. He was only a 4 year old, but his stare was so penetrating. He used to be able to make anyone bend to his will with his gaze. _

_She looked at him with a quizzical look. "i don't understand... you see me now, do you not? I am close to my teammates... and the crown jewel will be up and running within the next year i can guarantee. And the last one... create life... i may be able to try to PLAY god... but i am no god myself... it cannot be done." She shook her head in confusion and looked down at him._

"_You over think things... you aren't close to your team. You pretend to be. They know nothing of your true self... or personality. Learn to love, Dante. That's all i can tell you. You won't meet me again in your dreams. The next time we meet," he leaned up and kissed her cheek. "It'll be in person." He smiled, it was soft and childlike._

"_But riley. Please done leave... i... miss you." She hugged him close and felt his body begin to deteriorate. She looked at him and opened her mouth the say something as his body began to rapidly decompose in her arms. _

"_Don't say anything more... make me real and then you can say whatever you want." His flesh melted off of his bones and he looked her in the eyes once more. She stared back into his empty sockets and cried. "I love you." His skeleton turned to dust and blew away in a sudden strong gust of wind. _

_She stood and watched as his ashes blew off. Nothing remained when he left; he took the wind and sound with him. She closed her eyes and smiled. "I love you too... so much my brother." _

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Dante jolted out of bed and looked around her room. It was barely lit and quiet. She looked at the wall clock near the window and swore. 4 am. She shook her head and got out of bed to get dressed. She stripped her clothes from the previous day and stepped into her bathroom to shower. She turned the faucet on and was greeted by a blast of warm water. Her reaction was immediate. She shrieked in joy and jumped up. The water irrigation was complete already, that meant warm showers. She got in quickly and sighed as the water hit her body. It had been forever since she had had a nice warm shower.

Rook stopped outside of Dante's room as he heard a cry. He scratched his head and opened her door for a moment, seeing she wasn't in her bed shocked him. A faint light from the bathroom caught his attention and without thinking he burst in to see if something was wrong. That's when he saw her, stark naked, standing in the shower. Nothing covering her but the slight shine from the glass shower doors. He stopped dead and stared at her, his face going bright red. She hadn't noticed him yet and he was about to quickly turn and walk out when he slipped on something and fell to the floor with a cry.

Dante jumped and looked out of the shower doors as she heard the crash and saw Rook lying on the cool tile floors. There was a small puddle of blood around his legs and blood pumping out of his nose, his eyes where rolled into the back of his head. She jumped out and slid to her knew and picked his head up, placing it into her naked lap.  
>"OI! Wake up you idiot!" she said as she shook his shoulder lightly. When he didn't stir she huffed and looked around. Grabbing a white towel off the rack she turned him onto his side and placed the towel under his head. She stood and looked at the blood that covered her legs and some of the floor.<p>

"Well this is great." She grumbled as she got back into the shower to rid herself of the blood.

"Ugh..." rook groaned as he sat up and looked around. His eyes widened as he felt the blood coming from his head. He raised a hand and felt where the source was. His nose. That was good at least.

"Just take a seat on the sink or something until the bleeding stops." Dante said from the shower.

"e-eh... but you're NAKED." He stuttered out as he faced the wall, squeezing his eyes shut.  
>"And...? jeeze you act like you've never seen anyone naked before." She stepped out of the shower and grabbed the second towel from the rack and wrapped her body in it. "There is that better you big baby?" she asked. Her expression was annoyed.<p>

He turned and nodded, making eye contact with the tiles and tiles only. "Y-yeah... sorry about this. I heard you yell... so i came to make sure you were alright..." he rubbed the back of his head and watched as blood dripped from his nose and fell to the floor.  
>"Oh... i guess i was excited for the warm water... that's my fault." She suddenly remembered her dream and pinched the bridge of her nose. 'What did he mean by 'learn to love'...?' she looked at Rook and shook her head. "Anyway... give me your right foot."<p>

He hesitated before lifting his foot u to her.  
>She jabbed her palm into the ball of his foot and he winced.<br>"There. The blood stopped at least." She said as she let his foot fall back onto the floor.  
>"That... was weird." He admitted as he looked back at the blood smeared floor.<br>"Clean that up. I'm going to go get dressed." She walked back into her room.

Rook looked at the already bloody towel and shrugged. He then proceeded to mop up his blood with it. It didn't take him long to finish and when he walked out he saw Dante just putting her boots back on and getting ready to leave.  
>"Well that was fast. Where are you off to then?" he asked as he leaned on the doorway.<br>"I... have a few tasks to complete... starting with the re-building of New Alexandria."  
>"i thought we were going to wait for that?" he asked as he turned his head to look out the window. The dawn was just barley beginning to show in the distance.<br>"I cannot." Her tone was hurried and somewhat panicked.  
>"Why not...? It's not like we're going anywhere." He pointed out.<br>"Well... i need to do something within the year... something that can't wait..." she sighed and sat down on her bed, patting the space next to her. He walked over and sat beside her without hesitation.

"What is it?"  
>"Ever have a dream that's more of a message then a dream...?" she asked. Her tone serious and laced with steel.<p>

He took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling. "Sure i guess... what like déjà vu or something?"  
>"you can say that i guess..." she huffed and glared at the wall. "Well it happens to me all the time. My older brother would always come to me in my dreams. Of course he died when we were young... so don't think me crazy for this. He always gave me advice and kept me strong. But last night he came to me in a dream and told me i could bring him back to life." She paused for a moment to gage his reaction. When he said nothing and just stared at her to continue she sighed. "He told me i would need to perform three tasks for him... and that i would not be seeing him in my dreams anymore... that the next time we met it would be in person."<br>"Well what were the three tasks? I mean obviously he told you what they are right?"  
>"he did... i am unsure of the last two... but the first i am dead on about. He said; re-build the crown jewel. Which would be New Alexandria. There's no doubts about it. And then the other two... face my fear... and create life..." she got up and began to pace the room.<p>

"I just don't get the last one... i can't create life. It just cannot be done. I can only pretend to be a god... i can't actually be one..." her face was twisted into an expression of confusion and anger.  
>"Well... what's your fear?" Rook asked.<br>"He says i fear letting people get close to me. But if that were true... i would have killed you on new Mombasa... i would have let Emile die... i wouldn't have tried to save Jorge. And don't even get me started on my other teammates. The ones that are like family to me. So it doesn't make sense to me. I have multiple people that i hold close to me..." she punched the wall as she walked past it again.  
>"Well maybe you're thinking about it in the wrong way. Maybe you hold them close... like possessions rather than people. I mean this is only me theorizing on what I've seen of you so far. Maybe he wants you to think about it more humanly... maybe he wants you to learn to love your friends as people. Not things..." he rubbed his chin in thought as he pondered this. "I mean it's just a possibility."<br>"You think... that's how i am? That i treat my comrades as things and not people...?" she asked, an unbelieving expression on her face.

Rook laughed lightly and pointed at her. "See what i mean? You don't even call them your FRIENDS. You always address them in such a formal matter. Here let's try this; I'll say a person's name and you tell me you're immediate thoughts of them."  
>she huffed and nodded, rolling her eyes as she agreed. "This is stupid but go ahead anyway."<br>"Jarrod." He grinned, knowing what was about to come.  
>"A strong almost leader like champion of a companion. I wouldn't want to go into battle without him by my side if i were given the option." She remarked without hesitation.<br>Rook shook his head and sighed. "Carter."  
>A strike of pain washed over her features for a moment before she steeled herself again and answered; "a terrible loss."<br>Rook scoffed. "Are you serious?" he shook his head and then smiled. "Jorge." 

It took her a moment for the name to register in her mind. Then she smiled and looked out the window. "That's easy... he's a good man, like a brother almost..." she frowned. "No not just LIKE a brother... i look up to him as one. As it should be i suppose. He had my back and i just wish i could of had his."  
>"See? That's a little more. Remorse sure, but its more than just some straight easily given answer... you have to start looking at these people as well... people and not just pawns." Rook said as he stood up. "Try opening up a bit. I mean it's not like no one will like you. I'm sure that either me or Emile, if not both of us will always be there to back you up. I mean i would like to think of you as a friend... if you'll let me." He said as he walked over to her and smiled.<br>"We'll see." Her face was unimpressed.  
>He laughed and pat her on the back. "You know for a woman you sure are grumpy." He remarked.<br>"Only because i have someone in my room that bled all over me and my floor and then basically told me i have no friends. You're a dick."

Rook laughed again and shook his head. "Well it's true! Everyone's afraid of you too. I mean go walk into the marine's quarters and watch how they all get out of your way. That's not very friendly if you ask me."  
>"No one ASKED you though." She glared at him.<br>"I wasn't asking for permission to speak." He said cockily as he began walking out. "Just remember what i saaaiiiid~" he sang as he walked out.  
>Dante glared after him and huffed as she sat on her bed. "I am not a robot..." she muttered. "I'll show him... Pffft no friends... not friendly. What a jerk." She pouted.<p>

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Told you guys i would see you soon .3.' but sorry it's so short. I just wanted to put a chapter with a little more Dante and Rook there. Next chapter there will be a time skip just so you all know. And will tell you in an "AU" when it happens! Also, I'll be drawing scenes from the story and posting them on my Deviantart. Here's one from the previous chapter: #/d5qybez that's when Dante saved Emile from the sword Elite and walked away with him on his back.

Also if you guys have any suggestions for what you want in the next/upcoming chapters just review and let me know!


	14. Only Time Will Tell

Chapter 14

Only time will tell.

Disclaimer: I dunna own any charas but echo and rookies personality.

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*10 and a half months later.*

"DANTE! WAKE UP!" Emile shouted into her room as he peeked his head in.  
>She groaned and rolled over. "I don't want to right now Emile. Can't it wait…? My alarm hasn't even gone off yet…" she moaned as she rolled back over to look at her alarm clock. It read 3:30 am.<br>"Yeah yeah I know! But this is serious. You realize it's been almost a year now right… we only have a week before the year check point…"  
>she stared at him dumbfounded for a moment.<br>"That means that Reach will be checked up on for the first time! And if it isn't up to standards… they'll make you leave!" Emile said as he walked over to her and pulled her up and out of bed and into his strong arms.

"But I'm still tired… and we've done a lot you know… I should shoot you for waking me up anyway… I just only got to sleep at 1:30…" she complained.  
>"Heh… I'm sorry but we need to look things over and make sure everything has gone well." He stopped to pick up her boots and walked out of the room with her in his arms, meeting Rook and Jorge in the hallway as they left their rooms. "Now stop your complaining and come with us to the meeting room." Emile said as he set her on her feet.<br>"Fine…" she muttered as she grabbed her boots from him and silently padded along down the hallway beside the three men.

Jorge greeted her with a warm smile and patted her on the back with a strong calloused hand. He was back to an average, healthy weight and his muscle mass was back to normal. He looked just as he had before they had departed; only this time he was happy that the planet was being re-built in her presence rather than falling. He always seemed to be happy to help with anything he could; he even helped with the re-building of New Alexandria and the new Sword Base. Castle and a few other small towns were near completion so he helped whenever he could. It made her smile to see that her big friend was doing so well now.

'Yes…' she thought, 'friend… I feel like I can call him that… he's always there for us whenever we need him to be and has never intentionally failed or hurt me…' she mused as she looked over at Rook. He was a completely different story. Since he talked to her months ago he has been very distant. Giving her her space and never getting in the way. She often found him training with some of the marines and their guns in the fields or the other ODSTs and their usual off mission workouts. He was a hard worker just like the others. It almost seemed like he was trying his hardest to be like the Spartans. But she would catch a glimpse in his eyes that said he was looking out for her. And for some reason it would make her stop to watch him and smile. She couldn't understand why.

Of course herself, Emile and Rook had built the underground lab as well. And it was running smoothly. For whatever reason however they just couldn't replicate the human mind so far and had only been able to create failure AI's that would go mental within the first hour and self destruct. It was odd watching the little beings go up in a poof of binary code and then just disappearing. It was amusing and sad at the same time. But it couldn't be helped. She sighed and looked over to Emile last and smiled.

Emile had taken up the running of troop training and was up at the crack of dawn training the marines and others who wanted. It was hard work but he never complained. He was always right into it, doing the training with the troops because he said it was never above him to tell someone else to do it if he couldn't. Seeing him like this reminded her of how Mandez would take them on runs in the morning. Always with them every step of the way.

That brought her thoughts to Jun. there wasn't much he was able to do in re-constructing the cities and bases, but he was good at farming. So he did his best to help out on the farms. No one complained about him for once because his talkative nature was welcome by the farmers. And Jun really liked doing his work. He went every day since the farms had become operational. It was good to finally see him getting along with people.

Dante looked out a window as they passed down the hall and rolled her eyes. Out on the horizon she could make out some of the tip tops of the sky scrapers in New Alexandria. It was nice that it was finished. It only took 9 months and every able bodied person to do it. And even then it wasn't 100% finished. The structures and outside were finished. But the interior of everything wouldn't be complete until more people arrived and got settled in. and of course as by request of some of the Reach survivors, there was a giant black marble tribute to Noble Team in the heart of the city. Each of them carved out of the stone perfectly, not a flaw to be found. And a plaque that read: "even in our darkest hours we must hold strong and look on the brighter side of death. Even if that death is imminent we must do all we can to hold strong and protect the weak. Never forget Noble's sacrifice. Never forget Reach."

The plaque statue was built during the construction of New Alexandria by one man. He chiseled every detail by hand and tools. It was incredible. And practically a lost art now a days. They stopped in front of a locked iron door that required a key card. Emile slid his into the card slot and the door opened. Inside was a single round table with multiple chairs and data pads around it. Dante walked around the table and took her seat at the largest seat and sighed.  
>"Alright. So what is it that we need to discuss…?" she asked as she looked around as the men sat around the table.<p>

Jorge sighed and lit up the data pad in front of him and shook his head. "Well there is good news and bad in the construction progression…" he admitted with a wave of his hand.  
>"The training," Emile started as his lit up. "Is ahead of schedule. We have already passed half of the trainees as suitable Reach Soldiers." Emile said with a large grin.<br>"And the ODST's have been helping with whatever we can. Some of us have been at the farms, Buck, Dare and Romeo for instance. And they reported last night that due to the sudden lack of rain the crops have begun to dry out slightly. Although from what Jun has been telling them it shouldn't be a problem. And they also said that half of the grain production was finished early. So we can be expecting to have fresh grain products very soon. Mickey, Dutch and myself have been working with the livestock and I have to say there is no shortage as of right now. The farms are going well." Rookie reported.

"Alright…" Dante sighed as she leaned back and looked to Jorge. "So you're the only one who has bad news for me then… and because it has to do with the building of things… it is going to hurt my chances the most…." She said as she looked Jorge in the eyes and frowned.  
>"Well… it's not that there are any delays… it's just that we discovered a complication in the design for one of the bases… Castle to be precise. We are almost done… however in the main structure there seems to be a hitch. We can fix it with no problem… but we'll need to take some men from the building of one of the smaller cities… which will set that back..." Jorge said as he sent the blue prints of the building to her pad. The main structure issues where highlighted in white.<br>"I see..." Dante murmured as she nodded and looked back up from the pad. "Take some men from the city north of New Alexandria. That one is the closest to completion so a few men missing won't hinder their progression all that much. As for the farms being well off, I am glad." She smiled at Rook and then became serious. "that means I except there to be fresh food soon… this stock shit is really setting my taste buds on edge…" she sighed and then chuckled. The guys joined.

"On a more serious note. Emile, if you can I want you to lay off of training until the inspection is over… I need you to help Jorge with castle. This is extremely important. It NEEDS to be finished. Can I trust you?" she asked as she stood.  
>Emile looked offended as he stood and walked over to her. "If you couldn't trust me, would I still be by your side you crazy woman?" he asked with a chuckle.<br>"Of course not…" she smiled and shook her head. "Thank you for being a good friend. I'm proud to call you that." Her smile spread into a grin as he nodded and walked out the door.  
>"You both are like siblings… always so sassy with each other." Jorge said as he rose from his seat and looked at her. His eyes twinkled and the skin around them wrinkled as he smiled at her.<br>"Only some days Jorge. Other days I just want to beat his head in with a rusty pipe and slice his Achilles tendons…" she said as she watched him.  
>"I would hate to be on the end of your anger… be nice and go look over everything else." Jorge said with a chuckle as he left. The door slid closed behind him and Dante went back to scrolling through reports. Completely forgetting about Rook.<p>

Rook smiled and walked over to her, taking the seat to her right and looking over her shoulder. The data pad she was scanning over was teaming with information and statistic numbers. He blew into her ear and leaned back as her hand lashed out to swat him in the face.  
>"Hey now, that wasn't very nice you know." Rook complained as he grinned and moved closer.<br>"I don't get where you get the idea that I am ever nice Rook." She said as she continued to look over the data.  
>Rook grinned even bigger and stood up. "Well I know for a fact that you are somewhat nice. I mean I see you always taking care of everyone around the base or wherever you are. And be-"<br>"I need some of your sperm." She said out of the blue as she stood and faced him. Her face was serious.  
>"Eh… what..?!" he asked as his face went beat red and he took a step back. "m-my SPERM!? W-what for!?" he cried as she looked him over. "C-cant you ask someone else…. No wait don't…" his face flushed even further as he thought about how she would need to get his sperm and he grinned inwardly.<p>

"You heard me. My third task," she said matter of factly and raised a hand and gestured at him. "Is to create life. The crown jewel is built and I have friends now. So now all I need to do is create life." She said as she took a step towards him. "And suddenly it just popped into me head. The only way that I personally can create life is to make a child." Her face was still serious.  
>Rook flushed further and looked her in the eyes. "a-a child… like a BABY!? W-with me…? B-but-"<br>"No. not like that. Sheesh. Are you kidding me? I don't want to have a kid of my own. I just need some of your sperm to implant into an egg and put the two into a tube and let it grow there… are you kidding me…? There is no way I would have a child and risk my career." She explained as she sat back down.  
>"Soo… why ask me then…?" his face was beat red and he stared at the floor as she sighed.<br>"Because Spartans can't exactly reproduce… and even if we could it is very hard for us because of all the chemicals we were fused with during augmentation. And you being the only non Spartan in my circle… well I figured you were the perfect candidate." She shrugged. "Guess I was wrong."  
>He stepped closer and squeezed his eyes closed. "NO! I-I'll do it…"<br>"she grinned and looked up at him. "That's what I thought. You know, you aren't that bad a guy." She stood and hugged him awkwardly, not letting to much of her body touch his.

His head lolled to the side and he fell backwards, blood pouring from his nose. Dante sighed and kneeled down beside his head and shook her head.  
>"You know this has to stop… it's like every time I touch you… you almost die." Her mouth dipped into a frown and then her face relaxed as she looked his face over. Again she noticed how handsome he was. She realized how close she was getting and sat up right and scoffed. This was ridiculous. She had no time for this. She stood and walked out of the room, leaving rook with his problems.<p>

She walked out into the hall and looked at her watch. It was only 4 am. So they had spent about half an hour in the meeting room. Now was time to go and get busy with prep.  
>"The colonel will be here within the week… I better make sure everything is in top order… otherwise I'll never be back here again…" she looked around the halls as she padded down them, not wearing her boots still. By the looks of it the base was still sound asleep so she decided to go outside and look over the com towers. Upon exiting the base a sudden chill rushed down her spine as the cool earth touched her feet. It was spring on Reach and surprisingly enough, the weather had managed to stay on its regular cycle, despite the glassing. "It's nice that the last of the glass has been removed… I hated seeing that shit all over the place... it was so ugly." She mumbled as she walked out into the field and over to the coms station.<p>

She scanned her keycard into the door slot and walked into the dark station. There should only be one worker in this early, and that was Zach. She smiled as she took the elevator up to the top floor of the facility and was greeted by Zach when the door opened. He smiled at her and waved.  
>"Something wrong Dante? Or just checking in?" he asked as he looked up at her.<br>"Just needed to see how everything is going. Are the other 3 coms back up and running now? Or are we still having technical issues?" she asked as she took a seat at one of the control panels.  
>"Oh that… well actually they are all up and running, but for whatever reason the connection isn't crystal like I would like it to be. It fuzzes out sometimes and then just dies. Nothing we shouldn't be able to fix however." He smiled and rolled his shoulders and began typing away on the multiple screens in front of him. "Is that all?" he asked as she stood and went back to the elevator.<br>"Yes thank you." She said as the doors closed behind her.

The doors opened and she walked across the small lobby like area to the doors and stepped outside. The early morning breeze had gotten a tinge bit warmer and she decided to go and look at the vehicle bay. Luke and Jarrod had been tinkering with one of the Falcons recently and she wanted to see the progress. She ran over back to the base and around to find the vehicle bay on the far side. The hangar doors were open and her comrades were inside, busily working inside the engine area of the falcon. She walked towards the back of the bay and leaned on the side of the falcon.  
>"So boys, how it making out…?" she asked as she tried to peek inside.<br>"Pretty good actually. We are trying to see if we can reduce the fuel use with take offs and landing." Luke said as he wiped his forehead with a rag.  
>"So far we have managed to reduce the turbulence shake and set the stability, and even add shields. But for whatever reason we can't get this…" Jarrod said as he plugged something in and shook his head.<br>Dante nodded and began to walk away. "Don't work on it too much… there is a lot to do in the next while…" she said as she left. "I think I need to go and check up on the lab…" she muttered as she walked into the base and towards the meeting room. "But first; my boots… where did I leave them…" she muttered as she slid her key card in. the door opened just as Rook was walking out and their lips met.

Rook's eyes widened and he instinctively backed up, putting his arms in the air and preparing to be smacked. Dante looked at him and then relalized what had just transpired. She had, unintentionally kissed Rook. Right on the lips. It was a brief little thing, but the contact spread an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach. Like bubbles forming. Rook looked up when no violence came to him and saw the mix of confusion and curiosity in Dante's eyes. He back up as she walked in and the door sealed behind her. He watched as she walked to her seat and sat down, looking as if she was in a daze. He walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.  
>"Dante… are you alright?" he asked, his voice laced with concern.<br>"I… I guess so. I just wasn't expecting that…" she said as she looked up at him.  
>"I'm sorry…" he mumbled as he looked down. "I didn't mean to... I mean I was only walking out and then you were there and we… uh... yeah…" he yammered on as his face became cherry red.<p>

Dante looked up at him and shook her head. "No no... It's my fault for forgetting my boots here… my apologies." She said as she stood and looked under the table for them. They were there of course, so she grabbed them. She sat back down and began to place them on her feet when Rook placed a hand on the side of her face and tilted her chin up.  
>"You know…" he moved in closer and her breathing became shallow. "You don't have to be sorry for kissing me…" he moved in again and closed his eyes, letting their lips meet again. Dante stiffened for a moment before relaxing ever so slightly. Her eyes fluttered closed and her mind tried to wrap around what was happening. The only other person she had ever kissed was Jorge, and the only reason she let that happen was because she knew he was about to die. So why was this different? Why did the contact make her feel warm and tingly, as if her entire body were asleep? She opened her eyes as he pulled away. His face was red and he was looking away.<br>"I'm sorry… I shouldn't have done that… I should go." He said as he hurried away and left the room.

Dante stared after him for a moment before shaking the feeling that she should go after him.  
>"I don't have time for romance…" she muttered as she laced her boots up and relaxed her shoulders for a moment. "Even if that's what that was… love will only get in the way… I don't need it… riley never said anything about love anyway… just friends and letting people get close to me… so why do I feel like I've done something wrong by letting him leave like that…" she shook her head and stood. "I can't let it bother me in any case." She said as she walked towards the door. "My time is almost up…" she stopped before leaving the room and looked to the ceiling. "damnit Riley… it looks like I need your guidance even more now… I found out how to create life… I have friends… but is it love that you wanted me to find…?" she sighed and punched the wall beside the door, leaving a fair sized dent. "Silent as a corpse my dear brother… I guess… only time will tell." She muttered as she left the room.<p>

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Well that's chapter 14. Just a basic cap of the events of the last 10 months and some fluff. What will happen in the next chapter? Will 6 be shipped off to become a freelancer or will her work in the last year be satisfactory to the colonel? Only time will tell ;)


	15. creation and distruction

Chapter 15

Creation and destruction.

Disclaimer: I dunna own any charas but echo and rookies personality.

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"Well. I have to say Noble six, that I am indeed impressed by your progress." Colonel Holand said as he looked over the city of New Alexandria from a seat in a Falcon. Dante sat across from him, clad in her full suit of armor. She hated being out of armor around this man. It always made her feel naked, like he was always sizing her up and looking down upon her. "And you even finished Castle and Sword base. I am impressed indeed." He looked down at a data pad and nodded again.  
>"Thank you sir." She said with a nod, watching his every move from behind her sapphire faced helm.<br>"However…" he started as he put the pad down beside him and looked at her. "There have been no factories built… and no ship yards. This is Reach Noble. Not a playground. Reach was one of the top ship making planets in the UNSC. Don't let that slip your mind. Get it done." He said as he fingered the bridge of his nose with his index finger.

Dante nodded and crossed her arms. "And the deadline this time sir?" she asked.  
>"No. no deadline this time. You have proved that you can do extraordinary things with the small amount of resources and time you have been given. I will send word and you will have your population and necessities within a month. And as per your request, we are giving you some of Dr .Halsey's AI notes. We will also be sending back the survivors of Reach so that they may reunite with their homes and help with what they can." He said as he picked the data pad back up. "It's kind of a shame that the ship Yards are not yet finished. Inform me as soon as they are." He looked back out over New Alexandria and a hint of a smile graced his wrinkled face. "I as well as some other authorities will take up residence in Castle base. Soon Reach will be back in operation and you will be free to do what you wish until duty calls." He remarked as he looked back up to her.<br>"Thank you sir. What of my team?" she asked.  
>"Noble or Echo?" he asked.<br>"Sir. Both. As I consider them to both be under my command and a part of my… circle. If that makes sense. Along with the ODST team." She added as she thought about Rook and the others.

He thought for a moment before nodding and typing something out on the data pad. He then took out a pen from one of his jacket pockets and signed the pad. "So be it then. I expect great things from you still." He said as he handed her the pad.  
>"You shall not be disappointed at all sir." She responded as she looked the pad over and grinned behind her mask. This was her ticket to freedom. From never again having to become a slave to those who wanted to use her hyper lethal vector status. She moved the data over to her gauntlet and saved it there.<br>"Turn us around and take us back to Sword base pilot." The colonel ordered as he leaned out of the falcon slightly. A green light winked on in the passenger area and he buckled in as the pilot turned them around.

Dante brought the data up on her HUD while she waited for them to arrive and went over everything here. For the most part it had to do with the reconstruction progress and how all lights were green to continue with the operation. And when it came to reading the freelancer files it was all red. And there was quite a long list of people who wanted to "Borrow" her to do some "simple clean up tasks". In other words to take someone out or obliterate something. It was irritating to see how long the list was. Lastly were her teammates. She noticed how it was all one big thing now. All of them were either Echo or Noble, but it was under her call tag. Just a simple B-118 Team. She shook her head and sighed. It would be nice to finally not have to go about every day and look things over. One day of relaxation would be nice. And now that the colonel was here to look after some things that was actually possible.

There was a slight jostle of the Falcon landing that alerted her that they had landed at Sword. She jumped out and waved to the colonel and got into her warthog. There was no way she was going to stick around and be told to do something. She needed to get back to base and inform her team of the good news. And find Rook too, ever since he kissed her she hadn't seen or talked to him. And for whatever reason that annoyed her. She started the engine and looked down. "You know… I've always wondered why there are six pedals and only four directions…" she shrugged and pulled away from the vehicle back and tore out of Sword base, heading directly for Noble base.

The scenery passed by quickly and she hardly noticed that she had arrived at base. Everyone was waiting outside, either talking with each other or doing some kind of chore to pass the time. Dante leapt out of the Warthog and nodded to everyone. Buck and Veronica stopped their conversation and nodded for the other ODSTs to listen up. Jorge stopped talking with Emile and Jun and looked over at her, his face covered in worry. Emile walked over to her as Luke, Jarrod and Zach walked out into the courtyard with surprised faces. They hadn't expected her to be back so soon.  
>"Well…?" Emile asked as he came up to her.<br>She ignored him for a moment and looked over her audience. ODSTs, Echo and Noble were all there. She sighed and took her helmet off, her eyes closed and a frown on her face.  
>"No… they aren't sending you away are they… I mean look at how much we've done!" Emile shouted as he gestured to the area around him. At Emile's outburst everyone ran up to her exclaiming about how much work they had accomplished and how it wasn't fair that she had to leave.<p>

"I never expected to be liked this much…" she said as she opened her eyes and looked at them all. They all looked back at her with sad eyes. "That's why I am glad to inform you of my staying on Reach with you all." She said with a big grin. All at once they pat her back, hugged her and congratulated her. It wasn't long before Zach yelled out to everyone and popped a bottle of Champagne. Dante looked around as everyone went into the house to bring stuff outside for a party. She went inside to get unsuited and smiled. "I've never really been to a party… hopefully nothing goes wrong…" she muttered as she closed the door to the armory and began to take off her suit.

After a few minutes she emerged from the armory and headed directly outside. The sun was just setting and the breeze was nice and cool. A perfect spring evening. Jorge was tending to a large barb-b-q and his booming laugh could be heard across the courtyard. Emile was setting up a large bonfire with the help of Romeo, Dutch and Jarrod. Luke, Zach, Buck and Veronica were busy setting up coolers that held what looked like assorted types of alcohol. Mickey, Jun and Rook were setting up chairs around the bonfire area and joking around with each other. She smiled at the scene around her. Finally… some time to relax and get to know everyone. Not constantly rushing around. She looked off to the side and noticed Jarrod was busy setting something up on the ground not too far from them all. It looked as if he had just gotten there because Emile was yelling at him to bring more wood for the bonfire.  
>"So is there anything I can help with?" she asked as she walked over to the fire pit.<br>"Nope. Just go get a drink and have a good time. That's what tonight is all about. No more rushing around and being stressed. Time to celebrate and finally have some down time!" Emile said as he gave a loud whoop. Everyone cheered and laughed.

Dante shrugged and walked over to the coolers and picked up a cooler. She had never had a taste for alcohol. And she didn't exactly want to start either. Rook walked up behind her and nodded as she passed him. She stopped and grasped his shoulder. Looking him dead in the eye.  
>"Is there something wrong..?" she asked as she looked at him with concern.<br>"Ah... not at all." He said as he avoided eye contact with her.  
>"Then why haven't you talked to me in the last few days?" she rolled her shoulders and looked on with agitation.<br>"Well… I just thought you might want your space that's all…" he grimaced at the ground. "Especially with what happened… I mean I didn't even ask you for permission." He shook his head. "I'll understand if you want to smack me… just… don't be mad at me." He said as he finally met her gaze.  
>"Why… would I be mad? You know… just never mind alright? You're a good friend. Let's keep it that way and not let something like that get in the way of having a good time alright? Now let's put it behind us."<br>"you mean you aren't mad?" he asked, a slight smile creeping onto his face.  
>She shook her head and hugged him closely patted him on the back, and then brushed her lips up against his ear. He shuddered.<br>"Especially considering I kind of liked it." She whispered in his ear before patting him on the back and dashing away to the others near the fire that had just begun.

Rook looked at the ground in front of him before it clicked in his head. She had said that she kind of liked it! He whipped his head around and found her as she sat down beside Emile and Jorge and cracked open her cooler. He took a deep breath in and grabbed a beer out of one of the coolers and walked over to the fire. He took the seat next to Jorge and listened as they all talked about their pasts. The talking went around in a circle, starting with Buck. That's when Rook noticed two marines standing behind Dante. He stood up and moved to tackle them, but the shorter of the two men motioned for him to be quiet. So he took his seat back and listened. It went from Buck to Romeo and down the lines of the ODSTs, to Jorge who politely passed. Rook hadn't noticed that he had skipped as well and listened as Dante spoke.

"When I was very little," she started. "My home was attacked by the covenant. Just like any other 3rd gen Spartan. This is how we all started out. I lost my older brother… and then Kurt found me. He made me into the woman I am today, alongside the men of my original team." She gestured to Luke, Jarrod and Zach. "And the one woman that isn't here. We were known as ECHO team back in camp and we endured everything was throw at us… of course we had our flaws… and even failed a time or two." The others laughed. "But I am glad that they were there by my side. And I am happier still that they remain." She smiled as she sipped her drink. "Well, most of them." She sighed.  
>"Well… about that." Zach interrupted as the two marines behind her tapped her on the shoulder and she spun around. One of them was tall, almost 6 ½ feet and the other looked to be about 5" if that. They smiled at her and stepped aside, revealing a tall blonde woman. She had slightly curly hair and beautiful, big aqua eyes. She smiled at Dante and waved, she stood back almost as if she was shy of everyone else. Dante immediately leapt out of her chair and launched herself at the woman; they fell to the ground and began laughing.<p>

Dante got off the other woman and her smile was the biggest anyone had ever seen it before. She hugged the other again and chuckled.  
>"Naomi you sly little girl! When did you get here!?" she asked as they stood up.<br>"Oh… um not too long ago actually. I came in when the Colonel did…" she said very quietly. Her voice was musical and soft.  
>"I am very glad to have you… I missed you… was the outside world kind to you…?" Dante asked as she let Naomi take her seat.<br>"Oh… well I guess it was messy." She said as she shrugged. "I had a lot of weird things that I did… but that is talk for another time. I hear that you did all this on Reach! It's very well done, and in only a year." She nodded and smiled up at Dante.  
>"Oh... heh well I had a lot of help from my friends." She gestured to everyone and named them all.<p>

"Well now that introductions are all out of the way, let us get the party started!" Emile shouted as he threw a small package into the fire and it exploded, sending mass amounts of fireworks out into the sky. Everyone cheered and grabbed drinks, Jorge handed out plates filled with b-b-q, Buck told old earth stories and everyone listened. Dante looked around found that there were no more chairs and so she wandered around outside of the circle and watched. It was good to see all of her friends having such a good time. Even the two marines had joined in the fun, and she found out quickly that the smaller one was a good drinker. She made it around the circle twice before Rookie pulled her back in and sat her on his lap.  
>"What are you doing…?" she asked. Looking over her shoulder and into his eyes.<br>"It's a party, so sit and relax okay?" he smiled and winked.

Dante shrugged and then laughed as someone made a joke about how the covenant were like retarded Chickens. It wasn't long before someone brought out a Warthog and started blasting old music over the radio. Everyone got up and started to dance. And everyone had more drinks, bringing them further into their night of fun. It was about two hours before the spring air got a little too chilly for their liking and they brought the party inside, where the drinking and festivities continued.

Dante looked at the clock some time later and shook the dizziness from her head. She had tried her hardest not to consume too much alcohol but it was no good. Especially when Naomi was there. Her Irish friend sure knew how to drink and wouldn't let Dante say no. she looked around and saw that everyone was still going and she chuckled.  
>"Well! I'm off to bed you drunkards!" she tried to say, but it came out more like; "William f'tbed. Drunk." Everyone laughed and she brushed it off.<br>Rook watched as she walked away and fell as she went off balance. He walked over to her and helped her up. "You know, you are really drunk." He said as he supported her down the hall.  
>"N'you're not?" she asked as she looked up to him.<br>He shook his head and smiled. "I only had the one beer. I'm not a drinker." He said as he opened her door and helped her to the bed.  
>She sat down and looked up at him as he walked into the bathroom. He came back out holding a large bottle of water and some tablets. She looked at them with a quizzical look and shook her head.<br>"These will help with the hangover. Trust me. There's a reason I don't drink. Drink all of this water, but take the pills too. They'll help with the headache in the morning. Trust me." He said as he sat down next to her and smiled as she listened.  
>"Thanks… although… I don't get… oh… imma puke I thi-"she rushed to the bathroom and threw up, her body convulsing as she did.<p>

Rook walked into the bathroom and kneeled beside her, rubbing her back as she expelled into the toilette.  
>"shhhh, just let it all out. I told you, you shouldn't have drank that much." He said as he continued to rub her back.<br>"well… Naomi and ever-" she was again interrupted.  
>"Naomi, nothing. Just because she can hold her alcohol doesn't mean you can." He chuckled and helped her up once she was done. She leaned over the sink and began to brush her teeth.<br>"Throwing up… is gross… usually I don't ever…" she mumbled as she finished.  
>"Yeah well you should just be lucky you don't have alcohol poisoning." Rook said as he handed her a towel.<br>She took it and wiped her mouth once she was done and headed back for her bed. Rook walked with her back to it and helped her lay down. He sat on the edge of the bed and watched her. She looked back up at him and smiled slightly.  
>"Thanks for looking after me… I guess I owe you one." She said as she placed a hand on his leg.<p>

He shook his head and chuckled. "Friends help friends when they need it, don't they?" he asked as he tried to catch the emotion that was dancing through her eyes.  
>"I guess… but are you my friend… or something… else?" she asked as she closed her eyes and grimaced.<br>"I would like to think that I was something else… but I can't be sure." He said as he leaned in slightly. "Are you in pain?"  
>"no… just thinking. What If… I was supposed to love someone… in order to bring him back… he said let someone get closer… what if I can't…" she mumbled as she opened her eyes again. "What if I don't figure this out…"<br>Rook thought for a moment before sighing. "I'll try to help you as best I can. But for now… just sleep. I'll come back to you in the morning and we can talk more." He kissed her on the forehead and got up. "Just try not to fall asleep on your back… you might throw up and drown." He cautioned as he walked away. He opened the door and stepped out as he heard her say very quietly;  
>"Good night Rookie… thank you so much."<br>"Good night to you too Dante." He said as he closed the door and went back to join the party.

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AWWW well wasn't that kinda cute? :3 and we finaly got to meet the final member of Echo team, who is by the way owned by my Dear Friend: Mary :3

But anyway, I hope to have another chapter up again tomorrow. And now that I have alaptop…. I will be doing a lot more righting :D


	16. We are more than just weapons

Chapter 16

We are more than just weapons.

Disclaimer: I dunna own any charas but echo and rookies personality.

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Dante woke up to the horrid feeling of a dry mouth, ringing in her ears and the worst headache she had ever had in her entire life. She groaned as she struggled to sit up in her bed and looked around. Her eyes came to rest on her wall clock. It was currently 10:45 in the morning. That was odd. The base should be bustling with noises. Not as dead silent as it was sounding to her now. She slowly made her way over to the bathroom in her room and looked in the mirror. She was a mess. Hair all over the place, dark circles under her eyes and blood shot eyes to boot. She shook her head and started a shower. Maybe that would help.

She stepped into the hot water and sighed in relief. The heat made her headache dim and she filled her mouth with water. Then spat it out after swishing it around. Much better. She washed and then got out, quickly getting dressed and repressing the pain in between her ears. "Damn the blasted effects of alcohol…" she muttered as she stepped out into the hall. It was quiet as a Childs bedroom on Christmas Eve night.

She silently walked out into the red-room and gasped. There was toilet paper, beer bottles and cans, people and liquid all over the room. She looked up and shook her head in anger. Someone was super glued to the fucking ceiling.  
>"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?" she screamed as she kicked Emile in the stomach. He was the closest to her. He sat up right away and looked up at her in a daze.<br>"What's the problem boss…?" he asked. And then he looked around the room and his eyes went wide.  
>"wake them up… and clean it all up before I get back… or I swear I'll put you on sewage duty for the next 5 months!" she threatened as she walked back towards her room. "Just fucking ridiculous… and I don't even want to know what was on the floor…" she muttered as she reached the bunk hall. She could see her room door was closed, and the one across from it was slightly open. She never even bothered to learn who stayed in the hall with her.<p>

She walked towards the door and peeked inside. The room had the exact same layout as her own. On the bed was someone sound asleep, the blanket pulled up and over their head. She walked into the room a few more steps and stopped when her eyes came to rest on a duffle bag near the wall. And a suit of armor in the open wardrobe across from the door. Of course. This was one of the ODSTs rooms. And the armor was very familiar.  
>"How could I forget its look…" she said quietly as she walked up to the wardrobe and brushed the visor with her finger tips. It was sapphire just like her own. The armor was dusty and looked like it hadn't been touched in a while.<br>"You know it's rude to enter someone's room when their asleep." A mumbled voice came from behind her. She was startled by it, which made her jump. She whirled around and looked at him. He sat up in his bed; the blanket had fallen into his lap, leaving his torso naked. Rook yawned and looked at her quizzically.  
>"My apologize." She said as she stepped away from the wardrobe.<br>"It's not a problem." He muttered as she swung his legs out from under the blanket and stood up.  
>'At least he's wearing boxer…' she thought as she watched him walk over to the armor. "You don't take very good care of it… I would never let my armor get this much dust on it…" she mentioned as she watched him.<p>

"Heh… well I havnt had to use it in the last while… I guess it slipped my mind." He said as he rubbed the back of his head.  
>"Anyway... it's a good thing this was your room." She said as she walked towards the door.<br>"And why is that?" he asked as he turned to face her.  
>"Well for starters it would have been awkward if it was Buck. And secondly I want to go to work on that whole… creating life thing. So uh… lets go when you're ready." She said as she walked away. "Oh! And stand down soldier. No need to be so… eager." She said with a laugh as she closed the door behind her.<br>"Wha…? Stand down…? What does she me-"he looked down and went completely red. "OH COME ON!" he cried out as he bashed his head into the wall and shook his head. "Fucking stupid asshole penis…" he said as he pulled on a simple pair of shorts and a black t-shirt.

He rushed out of the room and ran after Dante as she turned a corner and walked towards the vehicle bay.  
>"Wait up!" he called as he caught up with her.<br>"Ah I see you caught up. Took you long enough." She joked as she opened the doors and walked over to a warthog. "Get in." she said.  
>"Hah… funny this morning aren't you. And why the warthog…? That'll take us at least an extra 2 and a half hours…" he said as he looked over to a falcon.<br>"Well fine then." She grumbled as she walked over to it and hoped into the pilot seat. "Bitch about it then…" she said as she activated the hangar doors and the falcon. The doors began to open and Rook jumped in. the falcon took off and whizzed away towards the lab.

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"Okay we're here now." Dante announced as she landed the Falcon in a small clearing. She hoped out just as Rookie did and they both headed for a small tree. The tree was no more than 10 inches high and it looked slightly out of place in the massive forest.  
>"Odd to think that only a year ago this was nothing but a wasteland of glass…" Dante noted as she knelt beside the small tree.<br>"And yet the trees look hundreds if not thousands of years old already." Rook said as he looked around.  
>"Yeah..." Dante leaned in closer to the tree and breathed out a word. The tree shuddered and the ground beside it opened up into a gaping hole. A hole with stairs. Rook walked over to her and held out his hand to help her up. She took his hand and stood. Then they walked down into the ground and were swallowed by blackness as the entrance closed.<p>

"It's been a while since we were last here. I'm pretty sure the coding for the last one should be done by now." Rookie remarked as the lights in the lab activated, and the lab lit up.  
>"It looks that way." Dante said as she walked over to a large machine that had a green light emitting from it. A small hollow pad emerged and a light flickered onto it. And then a small for started to morph. It stood and small eyes winked on. The AI looked like a smaller version of Kat. She waved up at Dante and Rook.<br>"Hello small one." Dante greeted.  
>"Greetings." The AI responded.<br>"Are you well? Run a self scan. And check for any problems." Dante ordered.  
>The AI flickered for a moment before it burst into a million tiny light specs and the AI projector faded.<br>"another fail…" Dante groaned as she walked over to another computer and began typing a report.  
>Rook sighed and nodded as he walked into a smaller room of the lab and looked at some charts.<p>

Dante walked into the room after him and looked at him.  
>"Now about that sperm thing…" she said as she looked at him seriously. The door whisked closed behind her as she talked.<br>"Oh… uh you were serious about that?" he asked nervously as he turned around to face her.  
>"yes." She said as she sat on a lab stool and watched him. "And like I explained, I can't simply ask one of my teammates. They won't do." She said as she rubbed the bridge of her nose.<br>Rookie took a step back nervously as he eyed her. "I… how are we going to go about this then…? And what exactly is in it for me?" he asked as a thought popped into his head.  
>"Well… easy, you go into the bathroom and fill this container with your sperm and then I implant it into an unfertilized egg that I harvested. And then we accelerate the growth process and create. Bada boom." She said as she shrugged. "And… I don't know. What do you want out of this…?" she asked as she watched him walk over to her.<p>

"I… want you not to move for a moment… and I also want you not to hit me." He said as he leaned down and kissed her softly. His eyes closed and he ran a hand through her hair and caressed her face with the other. She stiffened for a moment but relaxed and leaned into him, allowing her hands to come up and rest on the sides of his face. He broke away and looked at the ground, his face flushed.  
>"Is that it?" she asked.<br>"Y-yeah… I'll take that jar now…" he said as he walked away with it, his face glowing a beat red.  
>"Are you sure that's all you want?" she asked before he left. He stopped and looked back at her.<br>"Well… maybe..." he said.  
>She stood and walked over to him and crossed her arms, her face disbelieving. "I just mean, this is a big favor I'm getting you to do for me. I'm sure there must be something else you want." She said as she starred him down.<br>"There is one thing." He said as he met her glare with his own.  
>"Name it." She breathed.<br>"Make me into a Spartan." He said seriously.  
>"What…? A... Spartan… are you serious?" she asked as she tilted her head to the side.<br>"And… let me kiss you whenever I want." He mused as he leaned in and kissed her once more on the lips.

"If that's what you really want. Then I'll make it happen… once my brother is back… and only then." She said as she brushed his cheek with the tips of her fingers. "Do we have a deal?" she held out a hand.  
>"Deal." He said as he took her hand and shook it.<br>"Good. Now go and fill that container while I ready the embryo process…." She muttered as she walked over to a small crio tube and he left the room.  
>Dante looked into the small glass tube at a spec. that was an egg she had removed from her own body. If this worked that would mean the clone would at least have some of her DNA. She only hoped that it worked out the first time and didn't leave a mess behind if it failed. That was the last thing she needed; was to watch her brother die again. She turned to a small monitor beside the tube and it lit up, data streamed across its surface and she smiled as her eyes grazed over some of it. Her brain waves had been scanned some time ago and she had been working on isolating her memory. And it was coming along nicely. Since AI were made from a human brains she decided to use her memories of Riley to first create an AI which she would later implant into the clone's brain, thus making an exact copy of Riley. Well that was the plan at least. She couldn't be 100% sure if it would actually work.<p>

It was only a few minutes before Rook returned, his face was dark crimson and his head was slightly hung, his eyes fixated on the tiled floor as he walked over to her. Dante was busy fixing some of the data and making sure the setting were correct for the process.  
>"this is a brilliant idea and all, but you realize that it's going to be at least nine months before the fetus will be able to survive outside of there… and then longer still until it's the proper age." Rook said as he handed her the jar, refusing to meet her eyes.<br>She gave a small laugh and looked at the jar of semen. "Have you ever heard the story of how Doctor Halsey acquired all of her subjects?" she asked.  
>He shook his head in response.<br>"Well… it had a lot to do with their DNA for starters. And once she found her matches it was a matter of removing those with the right genes without being noticed. And so they developed flash cloning. Similar to what I am going to be doing. It's essentially a sped up process of everything. So in theory it will take little over a month for this fetus to reach the age of four, at this stage I will remove him from the tube and begin the memory transfer." She explained as she set the jar into a small opening in a larger tube that led to the fetus' chamber.  
>"How can you ensure that the fetus will be male?" he asked as he watched the process with curious eyes.<br>"Simple. I'll supply the fetus with testosterone while I deprive it of estrogen. It's simple really…" she said as she flipped a small silver switch. Once the switch was flipped there was a short suction noise, and then the sperm could be seen being ejected into the tube.  
>"If you say so." Rook said as he stepped back and looked towards the door of the lab.<br>"I should hope so. Because if it's female we'll have to start over again." She said as she stood and entered a few things into a wall panel.

They left the lab and headed back for the base, saying little to each other as they went.

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Dante walked into the base and looked around at the wreck room. It was all spick and span, no evidence to suggest that it had been destroyed only hours before. It would have been extremely bad for all of them if the Colonel had decided to make a surprise inspection. She gulped at the thought and walked over to the large windows of the wreck room. They were crystal clear and stood from floor to ceiling, giving a nice wide open view of the courtyard, and the field beyond it. The day was nice and the slight breeze made the trees beyond the field blow slightly. She sighed and touched her right hand to the glass, letting her finger tips glide down the glass silently. This base was her home now. All of her friends were here, her armor, her job. How could she ever leave this place after everything she had been through here, with this place, with these people.

Dante closed her eyes and looked away from the window and over to the door. She had a feeling of being watched, and that feeling never lied to her. Standing in the door way was a man she was unfamiliar with, he had the build and height of Jorge, but his features were harder and battle worn. His short brown hair showed little signs of grey unlike Jorge's whose was streaked with it. His dark brown eyes stared directly into hers and his thin mouth was in a perfectly straight line. Her eyes moved down to his jaw line, strong and square. This was unmistakably a Spartan II she was starring at. But she had only ever met him once or twice.  
>"Greetings Noble 6." He said in a deep husky tone as he dipped his head slightly.<br>"Welcome to Noble Base… Master Chief." She said through gnashed teeth as she walked over to him and greeted him with a nod. "What brings you here?" she asked as she stole herself and resisted the urge to punch him in the jaw.  
>"I cannot tell you at this moment. Only that I came here to take you somewhere and have a discussion." He said as he began to walk away.<br>Dante followed unwillingly and glared at the back of his head. She didn't like John, not one bit. While her and her team was dying on Reach, he was safely inside a crio tube on the Pillar of autumn, running with the rest of them. She wouldn't have hated him so much if he had at least tried to help them. But that was in the past. She couldn't do much about it. Another thing she loathed about him was his superiority complex, so he destroyed Halo and killed a shit ton of Covenant… what Spartan hadn't? The ones who died. But other than that. She had to admire him however; he was the only one in the UNSC to share the same title of Hyper Lethal Vector with her. She couldn't judge him just yet; she had only ever exchanged a few short words with this man. She followed him into a prepped Pelican, the driver blinked a green light as the door closed and Dante took a seat. John sat across from her.

"Can I ask you a question? That is if you are comfortable in speaking freely." He said as he again stared into her eyes.  
>"Not at all. So long as you won't be offended with anything I have to say." She replied.<br>He nodded and gave a small chuckle. "Well, I'll try not to. I want to know why you haven't been to the Autumn's launch sight yet. Why has it been left alone and destroyed?" he asked as he watched for her reaction.  
>She remained quiet for a moment before replying softly; "memories."<br>"Of?"  
>"Death. It was the first time I actually realized that I just might die. That this awesome power I had been given would be useless… that I would not be able to protect the ones close to me. Carter… Noble 1, died on the way in, and then 4 almost died too. That's why. The both of us almost died down there… and I guess I just wasn't ready to bring myself back to that place. I want to forget how much of a monster I am… I don't want to see all the carcasses of things I've killed. Or was the cause of…" she explained as her eyes grew cold.<br>"You think of yourself as a monster." It wasn't a question.  
>"Did I not just say that?" she asked as the pelican came to a stop and the back hatch opened. John said nothing as he walked out and motioned for her to follow.<p>

Dante did as he requested and followed him down to the over look of the old launch site. It looked exactly as she remembered it. Covered in dust and foggy looking. It felt dark and lonely here; she never wanted to come back here.  
>"I used to feel like that… I used to question why I was killing people. You must have too, being a freelancer and all." John remarked as he looked out and over the large valley.<br>"What do you mean?" she asked as she joined him by his side.  
>"I mean it used to bother me. I thought what I was doing was bad… that I was just needlessly killing people. But then I realized something. If I didn't kill the things that were in the way, or the things that I was assigned to kill, then the people who I held close to me might be hurt. I wasn't just a weapon. I was a protector Dante. Do you understand?" he asked as he turned to her and looked her in the eyes.<br>"But that's what we are John. We ARE weapons. So why should I think of myself as anything else?" she said. She wasn't getting where this conversation was going.  
>"But that's not just what you are. I never realized it either. We are human. We bleed just as they do, breathe just as they do; the only difference between Spartans and humans is that we are a little more durable. Don't forget that okay? That we are human." He said as he grasped her shoulders.<br>"I know I'm human John." She stated as she began to become slightly irate.  
>John shook his head and sighed. "I mean that you are a protector Dante, look at what you've done here? You saved a lot of people and I'm sure that everyone is grateful for that. I've read your file and you're resent reports. Cortona saw them as well. And she asked me to come out and try to explain it to you. That we may be professional in armor, but out of it we can have fun, laugh and even love. Don't lose sight of your human side." He explained as he pointed out to the wasteland before them. "This is proof right here. You're afraid of this place because of the memories it brings. And that's okay."<br>Dante looked out over the land and frowned. "You came all the way to Reach to talk to me about being human." Dante said in disbelief as she looked from the wreckage to him. "I don't believe that. What was this supposed to be of gain?" she asked.  
>"That's the point. It wasn't of any gain to either of us. But coming from another H.L.V it might sound a little better. Don't you think?" he asked.<br>"Not really. It makes me feel like an alien. Like I need someone to tell me that I'm not being me properly." She said with a snarky tone.  
>"Look I'm not saying that. I'm just saying; don't forget what you are." He said as he turned around and walked back to the pelican.<p>

Dante starred out at the scene before her and fell to her knees. She sighed as she watched the stillness of the landscape, watched as the wind blew dust and dirt around the air. Her eyes stopped scanning once they fell on the Mass Driver Cannon that was almost Emile's burial ground. Maybe she was more than just a weapon. Maybe she was a person, capable of saving other's lives and being able to lead a regular life. Maybe. That was stretching it a little too far she thought. Regular would be boring after more than 18 years of training, fighting and killing. It wouldn't ever be normal for her, but at least it could get close to that. She thought of Rook and how he seemed so happy to be around her all the time. He was human. She wasn't. Could it ever really work between the two of them? But if what John was telling her was true then she was human, just a lot less breakable. She liked the idea of that. She had always thought that she was different from those that she killed, and in a way she was, she was the superior on. They were the week and incapable of surviving. That's all. She smiled slightly as she stood and looked over to the pelican. John and the pilot were loading something into the back hatch. Dante tried to see what it was but she suddenly became aware of how dark it had gotten, the flipped her right wrist over and looked at the small data pad. It was only 3 P.m far too early for it to be this dark, unless- she raced over to pelican and jumped into the pilot's seat and turned the com on.  
>"Get in now. We need to leave!" she announced as she ignited the engines and closed the hatch as soon as the men were in.<br>"is something wrong?" the pilot asked over the com.  
>"there's… a storm coming. That's all." She muttered back and she could hear John laugh through the com.<br>"Better hurry back then." He said as the com went silent.

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As soon as the pelican touched back at the base, Dante was out and racing into the base. The first rain drops barley dashed the ground when a loud clap of thunder came crashing through the silence. Dante squeezed her eyes shut as she ran for her room, resisting the urge to hide under the next person she saw.  
>she turned the corner to the bunk rooms for her and her team and crashed into Rook's chest, he caught her and looked at her, shock lacing his features.<br>"Hey, whoa, what's wrong?" he asked as she tried to get away from him.  
>Her only reply was a laud whimper as another clash of thunder shook the skies.<br>Rook's eyes widened like a deer in headlights when he realized what was wrong. "You… you're afraid of thunder… aren't you?" he asked as he guided her into his room and sat her on the bed.  
>She pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them, burying her face in her arms.<br>"Shhhh hey, it's okay." Rook coaxed as he wrapped a blanket around her and pulled her close to him. "Nothing's going to happen okay? I promise. I'll stay right here okay?" he said as he brushed her hair with his free hand. She nodded and whimpered slightly as another loud crash of thunder was heard.

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It took several hours for the storm to die out, and Rook stayed with Dante until it was over, reassuring her that everything was going to be alright. When she finally calmed down she let her legs fall over the edge of the bed and she looked down at the floor.  
>"I'm… sorry about that…" she said as her frame shook slightly.<br>Rook rubbed her back softly and leaned down, trying to get a good look at her face.  
>"No need to be sorry. I guess the weather just decided to change so suddenly… I had no idea you were afraid of storms… can I ask why..?" he said as she leaned against him.<br>"After riley died… and I was left alone… it started to storm… really badly. I guess now that I'm older I shouldn't be as troubled by them… but it still reminds me of being left all alone…" she mumbled as she rubbed her eyes. "It's so stupid." She said as she stood.  
>"No. everyone has something they fear. It's only human Dante."<br>"You think I'm human…?" she asked suddenly as she looked him in the eyes.  
>"How could you not be? I see the way you care for everyone here, how you smile when someone makes you happy, or get mad when someone gets hurt. You're an amazing person Dante." He said with a smile.<br>Her eyes brimmed with tears as his words sunk in; she never even realized that she displayed that many things. She always thought she wore such a steel mask in front of everyone.  
><em>"We may be professional in armor, but out of it we can have fun, laugh and even love. Don't lose sight of your human side."<em> John's words echoed in her head. She leaned down and pressed her lips to Rook's and let her tears fall. This is what it meant to be human. To love. To laugh. To live.

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HOLLY CRAP IM SO SORRY Dx I had such BAD writers block for the longest time and then I decided; aw yeah lets finish this chapter finally last night… and just as I was gunna save… my laptop freezes and crashes… yayyy :\ so here the new one… hopefully ill update again really soon….-.-


	17. Welcome Back

Chapter 17

Welcome Back.

Disclaimer: I dunna own any charas but echo and rookies personality.

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John shook his head in amazement as he watched Dante fly into the base; she didn't even bother to look back.  
>"She must be pretty terrified if she didn't even want to see our discovery, hey boss?" the pilot asked as John started hauling out a crio tube from the back of the pelican.<br>"Well I'd say so. Looks like we may have to get Washington's help on that one… can't have her running scared from a battle field if there's a storm."  
>"You think that Washington is the best suited for the job sir?" the pilot asked with a slight scoff and a shake of his head.<br>"He's the only one who isn't exactly busy at the moment. Think about it. And if my theory is correct, because she is working with an AI that will be memory she will need his help anyway." He set the tube down and looked up into the thundering clouds.  
>"I don't see why she's so afraid of it… I mean she can fight an Elite head on… but can't stand a little thunder?" the pilot was chuckling slightly as he thought this over.<br>"We all have our closets full of skeletons Rick." John warned as he walked towards the base. "I'll give Washington a call in the morning… and have him set her up with the Lancer's fear chamber…" he said as he waved a hand in dismissal.  
>The Rick shook his head and sighed. "Seems a little drastic for that… but If that's what you want to do…" he then proceeded to load the crio tube onto a forklift and drove it into the base.<p>

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Dante woke from an uneasy sleep, she had the feeling that someone was watching her and it made her skin crawl. She sat up in her bed and looked around her room, nothing was out of place, and no one seemed to be in her room. She sighed in frustration and got up to stretch. Walking into her bathroom she noticed her reflection, paler then usual and dark circles under her eyes. She had a dark foreboding that something was going to happen today. Something bad. Shaking her head to rid herself of the thought she got dressed and walked out into the hallway. It was about 5 AM and no one seemed to be sleeping anymore, the corridor was brightly lit and she could hear voices down the hall towards the wreck room.

Silently she padded down the hallway and leaned against one of the walls to hear what was going on. She could hear John and another man speaking. She didn't recognize this voice at all, but the names and places she would never forget. She stormed into the room and looked around the room for the source of the voices. There on the other side of the room by the windows was John and his guest. John looked over to her and nodded in her direction, causing the stranger to look over at her. He had short black hair, dark brown eyes and the build of a Spartan, however one thing caught her eye and she froze. Her skin prickled with goose bumps and her heart skipped a beat. The insignia of a freelancer was pinned to his grey muscle shirt. Ice shot through her veins as she ran over the possibilities of why a freelancer could be at the base. And only two thoughts came to mind, either he was there to kill someone or here on a request. Either way, it made her extremely uneasy.

"So this is her?" the freelancer said as the two men walked over to Dante. She stayed in place and barely breathed as they looked her over.  
>"This would be the one."<br>"And you say she was with us before?"  
>John nodded, a slightly amused smile playing across his thin lips.<br>"Then why hadn't she gone into the facility for this training before?" the freelancer asked as he walked around Dante, inspecting her.  
>John shrugged. "Maybe he was too busy with her to notice it…" John commented as his smile faded.<br>"That might be true. Tell me, Dante, are you familiar with," he paused for a moment so that he could stand in front of her to gauge her reaction. "The Director?"  
>the name hung in the air like mustard gas, her body tensed and her eyes narrowed as she nodded stiffly.<br>The man nodded and looked to John. "Well, I guess we'll take her then." He said nonchalantly as he began to walk away.

"YOU CAN'T." Dante said loudly in protest.  
>The freelancer stopped and looked back in her direction. "You are making a memory based AI, you have fears of thunderstorms, and you were once a Freelancer. I think what we are doing is going to help you. You cannot simply turn this down; the order came from higher up. I'm sorry but this has to happen." He said as a look of sympathy shot through his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by indifference. He then shook his head and continued to walk away. "Get your things ready, we leave in two hours." He left no room for argument as he left the room.<br>Dante sunk to her knees and looked after him. "I… I was free. He promised me… no he USED me then!" Dante screamed as she stood and stormed out of the room. Her mind buzzed with a million different thoughts as she marched to her room, John following closely behind her.  
>"No. this was from me and the Colonel Dante. Not just him. What do you think this is anyway?" he questioned as he leaned against her door frame.<br>"WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE!? THEY'RE TAKING ME BACK TO _**HIM**__._" She shouted. "Back to be a freelancer!" she said as she punched the wall beside the window.  
>"Now now. Surely it isn't that bad. They're only going to keep you long enough to train you a little better. I don't know if you hadn't notice but you are starting to be a little lack luster." He said with a slight hint of amusement at her temper tantrum. "They'll help you conquer your fear and even give you an AI slot. So think of it this way, they're helping you out here. You should be grateful." He said as he shook his head.<br>"Grateful for what?!" she said as she turned her icy gave to him. "For putting me through everything? For making me a killer? All I wanted was to avenge my family… instead I got thrown into a fucking boot camp and then as soon as I was augmented I was taken by him. To be his toy, kill whoever he wanted and steal anything too. I was an instrument of death… and here we were talking about being protectors yesterday, and now I realize that was nothing but lies. I kill people John, and apparently I'm never going to get away from that, so why should I even try anymore!?" she yelled the question. "All I want is to bring my brother back so that he might be able to live on this planet that built from the ground up… I thought I was doing something for myself for once, but as soon as I was finished it all turns out that I was being used by the higher ups AGAIN." She snarled as she opened up her duffle bag and began to stuff it with her belongings.

John sighed and looked over to her. "So you really are a fiery tempered little thing." He chuckled and shrugged at her. "What do you want me to tell you? That everything is going to be okay? That this is the only way that things can work?"  
>"I just… want to know why you did this." She said as her body shook from rage.<br>"Because I know you can be better. What are you going to do if suddenly there is a storm in the middle of a battle?" he asked. "Or if say you take an AI version of Riley and he malfunctions? You need training for this and the Freelancer program is the best suited to help you. So stop your bitching and do what a good soldier does and follow your orders. One day you will thank me for it, one day this will make you a leader." He said as he walked away, leaving the thought in the air.  
>Dante slumped onto her duffle bag as his words sunk in. was she a bad leader because she feared things? Or was it that she let her fear get the best of her. Sure yesterday wasn't a worst case scenario, and come to think of it she had never been in a position where she had to fight in a storm, but what if that day came? What if this was her only opportunity to get over it? She closed her eyes and grasped her duffle bag with white knuckled fingers.<br>"I guess… for the sake of everyone else… I'll have to go for now…" she said out loud as she trembled.

Rook peeked is head into her room as the words left her lips and he frowned. "Go where?" he asked as he stepped in.  
>Dante jumped a bit from the sudden appearance and stood. "I… have to go back to The Mother Of Invention…" she muttered as she looked at her duffel bag.<br>"What's that?" Rook asked as he tried to read her expression.  
>Dante grimaced as she glared up at him. "The Freelancer's ship… it's in orbit I guess… and then I'm being taken back to the training facility…" she said as her expression turned into a twist of rage and sorrow. She shook her head and hefted her bag and stormed out, leaving Rook speechless and gapping after her.<p>

Dante kept a brisk walking pace as she made her way towards the armory, taking extra care to avoid the rest of her teammates and get in and out as quickly as possible. Once she reached the armory it was no more than twenty minutes before she had her armor on and her guns clasped into place. She activated her HUD and looked it over, once she was satisfied that everything was in working order she turned on her recording device and left a quick video message to her team. And then turned it off and headed for the pelican outside. She never even looked back, her anger over came any emotion of regret or longing.

She took her seat in the Falcon and watched the Freelancer across from her. He only stared back into her sapphire helmet, a slight smirk on his lips. "Welcome back Agent Valkyrie." He said.  
>Dante glared at him through her face plate, her blood boiling in rage. "I should say it is my pleasure, but I would be lying." She said as she crossed her arms.<br>"Okay ladies, quit fighting. It's time to go." Four Seven Niner chimed as she closed the hatch and set the pelican off into the air.  
>Dante only stared at the Freelancer, stared him in the eye as he did the same. She smirked when she realized the only difference was; he couldn't see her.<p>

The trip to the Mother Of Invention was a short one. The pelican docked with its mother ship and opened up almost immediately. Dante stood and walked to the opening of the Pelican, outside she was greeted by three Spartans and a dark skinned man. One of the Spartans nodded to the Freelancer that exited after her, he wore dark purple and green armor, the one next to him was in a tan almost orange armor. And the final one was clad in teal armor. Dante immediately recognized them as the State Freelancers. The Directors pets and most valued assets. The dark skinned man stepped forward and held out a hand.  
>"Welcome back to the Mother Of Invention, agent Valkyrie." He said in a slow mellow tone.<br>Dante nodded once and stood stiffly. She didn't like to be around so many people she did not know.  
>"So John asked you about this one personally?" the tan armored freelancer asked the unarmored one.<br>"Yeah. Said something about… I'll tell you later on." He glanced in Dante's direction and wandered off to another area of the loading dock.  
>"Well. We should go and see the director immediately. He has eagerly awaited your return."<br>"are you sure that's wise Counselor?" the teal one asked.  
>"Agent Carolina, it will be fine. If you feel the need you may accompany us." He sounded slightly agitated.<br>Carolina scoffed and shook her head, following the others out of the bay, stopping only to turn her head in Dante's direction.

"Agent Valkyrie, if you would please follow me." The Counselor said as he began to walk towards a different exit then the other freelancers.  
>Dante followed closely behind him, not saying a word or releasing her muscles from a tensed state. She hated it here, and would be damned if they forced her to stay with them longer then was necessary. She ground her teeth in frustration. She just wanted to leave and be with her team again. She was only gone for no more than an hour but she was she already home sick. And she didn't like that feeling, not one bit.<p>

The walk to the Director was a short one. The doors opened and then closed just a quickly. She was standing in the room with him, and the Counselor. She had a terrible chill that would not leave her spine. She resisted the urge to shake her shoulders to rid herself of it. And then she stiffened when the director looked to her. A smile played across his lips as he looked her over.  
>"Welcome back, it's been a long time." He said his tone smooth as lace.<br>"Leonard Church." She said, a slight air of command in her voice. Held her head higher and her lip curled into a snarl.  
>"please, have a seat. We have a great many things to go over." He said as he gestured to a seat across from him.<br>Dante sat begrudgingly and watched him wearily.  
>"Please remove your helmet; I assure you that no harm will come to you." The Councellor urged as he moved to stand beside the Director.<br>She did as she was asked and looked the Director in the eye, hers only reflected her hate.  
>"We have come to understand that you are creating a memory based AI, is this true?" the Counselor asked.<br>"It is." She said in a grave tone.  
>"Why?"<br>"That… is none of your business." She retorted in annoyance.  
>"Fair enough. But it is our business if we are going to help you with it." He said coolly.<br>"So you will tell us." The Director demanded.  
>"Why? So you can try to replicate it and bring back Alison?" she spit out before she could think.<p>

The Counselor and the Director looked at each other for a moment before the Director leaned over and said something very quietly to him. The Counselor then left, his pace brisk. Dante watched him leave and then looked back to the Director, a sly smile played across his lips and she cringed inwardly.  
>"So that's what you're doing it for." He said softly.<br>"I never said that I was." She retorted in a low tone.  
>"You didn't need to with that response." He said as he stood and walked to the window. "Go. Washington will be your escort from now on. You may not leave his sight unless it's to sleep or use the bathroom." He said as he looked back to her.<br>"Why such a tight leash?" she asked as she glared at him.  
>"Because, I don't need you running away before everything is done." He said as he shook his head and the door opened, revealing a grey and yellow armored freelancer.<br>"Well… let's get moving." He said as he motioned for her to follow.  
>She recognized the voice as the man that had come to pick her up and she glared at his faceplate.<br>"go." Was the Directors final word to them as they walked away.

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Rook watched sadly as the Pelican took off skyward. He couldn't understand why she had put up such little fight against them taking her. He began pacing the wreck room when Emile and Jorge walked in, looking curiously at him.  
>"Something wrong Rook?" Jorge asked.<br>"Yeah, you're never like this for no reason." Emile threw in as they walked over to him.  
>"She's gone." He muttered as he continued to pace.<br>"Who? And where?" Emile asked as he crossed his arms.  
>"Dante. They took her." He shook his head and looked at them, worry lacing his usual calm features.<br>"Wait… who took Dante, and where?" Jorge said in a calming tone.  
>"The… the Freelancers! They took her up to the Mother Of Invention… and then their taking her to a Freelancer training facility…" he said as he sat down on one of the couches, holding his head and shaking it in disbelief.<br>Emile said nothing as he narrowed his eyes.  
>"That… that doesn't sound right. Why would she just leave?" Jorge asked as he shook his head.<br>"She had no choice." John said as he walked in and took a seat.

Rook looked up at him and stood. "What do you mean she had no choice?" his voice quivered.  
>"I mean exactly what I said. She was given an order and she had no choice but to follow it." John said as he looked Rook in the eye.<br>"Who gave the order John?" Jorge spoke as he crossed his arms.  
>"Myself and the Colonel." He said without hesitation.<br>"WHY!?" Emile burst out as he stepped towards John.  
>"Is it not clear? She needs more training if she is going to lead, and since I cannot train her to be a team player, nor how memory AI's work, I had to hand her over to someone else." He explained in a calm tone.<br>"That still doesn't explain why she had to go… why couldn't they have done it here?!" Rook asked, exasperated.  
>"Because you all would have gotten in the way. They will be doing things to her that I guarantee you will not approve of." John added.<br>"Well isn't this just great…" Emile muttered as he glared out the window.  
>Jorge sighed and began to walk away. "You had better hope for her sake that they don't intend to keep her… I can only imagine what she might do…" he said as he shook his head sadly.<br>"Trust me. Nothing is going to happen to her. Have some faith in her." John said as everyone but Rook left the room.

Rook watched as they all left and slumped. So now that she was gone it was up to himself and Emile to watch over the creation process of Riley. How lovely. He had a bad feeling that things wouldn't be the same when she came back to them.

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Well that's this chapter. Sorry it was such an abrupt ending :P and what do you know? Turns out that this is going to be tied it with RVB. Not story line or anything, so no worries. And this IS Alternate Universe so we can do whatever we want. .3.


	18. Welcome to the new Age

Chapter 18

Welcome to the new Age.

Disclaimer: I dunna own any charas but echo and rookies personality.

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Rook sat in the lab and looked upon the small child in the cryogenic tube. It had been ten months since the freelancers took Dante in for her training. Rook and Emile had been coming to the lab everyday for the past ten months to keep watch over the growing child. Emile walked over to the tube and wrote down a few things on a data pad, he then looked over to Rook.  
>"Rook… he's almost of age… it wont be long now." He said as he sighed. "I hope she gets back in time for the birth process…"<br>"well there isn't much we can do if she isn't here though…" Rook groaned as he leaned on the desk.  
>"I know… it's been a long time already… I can't believe it's taken this long…" he looked into the glass tube and placed a hand on the glass. "I miss her too you know." His expression reflected back through the glass, it was sad and his eyes drooped slightly.<br>"I know… all we can do now is wait though…" Rook stood and walked over to the door. "We better go now Emile. We'll come back tomorrow to check on things again." He turned to the door and began to walk out. Emile followed him out sadly; he looked back and turned the lights out.  
>"Good night Riley. See you tomorrow." He closed the door and locked the facility before getting into the falcon.<p>

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"Well here we are… back at the base." Rook said as he nudged Emile from the passenger seat.  
>"Yeah okay…" Emile said as he got out and walked back into the base. He looked out into the field before he closed the door. It was spring and the snow was just beginning to melt. "Rook?" Emile asked as he turned to face him.<br>"Yeah?"  
>"What month is it?" Emile asked as they began walking to the armory.<br>"Well it's May." Rook said as he looked at him. "Why?"  
>"just wondering." Emile said as he began to put his lab things away in a locker.<br>"Ah okay. Hey did you leave Dante's locker open when you were grabbing the DNA scanner?" Rook asked.  
>"No. she hated having her things left open…" Emile groaned as he stood and stretched.<br>"Well… her locker is open." He said as he walked over to it. "Huh…" he closed it and walked back over to his locker and placed his things in it. "Let's go check on lunch." Rook suggested as they walked out.

They began walking towards the kitchen in silence when they heard it. A melodious laugh that was very rare to hear. They ran into the kitchen and saw her. Sitting at the table and eating a piece of muffin. She turned and looked over to them.  
>"Oh. Hello Emile and Roo-" she stopped short as they rushed over and hugged her so hard that they fell onto the floor. "OH-!" she began laughing as they hugged her tightly.<br>"We missed you." Emile said as he squeezed her tightly.  
>"Yeah. We really did." Rook said as he kissed her on the forehead. "A lot." He smiled as they got up.<br>"Jeeze you two… if you had tried any harder I'm sure that you would have squeezed her organs out." Jorge said as he laughed.  
>Dante groaned as she stood and dusted her shorts off. "It's not that big of a deal." She muttered as she let a small smile grace her lips. "But there is… something I want to get right down to." She said as her voice turned from cheery to serious. Her eyes hooded as she walked past Jorge and stood in the doorway. "He… IS ready… right?" she asked as she let her head fall slightly.<p>

Emile smiled and nodded, not knowing if she was watching him or not.  
>"Well… yes. We didn't carry on with the process just yet because well… we weren't sure you were here. Actually we thought you wouldn't be back for a lot longer than you had been gone for..." Rook piped up as he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and took a swig.<br>"I'm going now then. Alone." She announced as she took off towards the vehicle bay.  
>"You're not going after her." Jorge stated as he grabbed Rookie's shoulder and sat him in a chair.<br>"Why not?" he asked as he glared slightly.  
>"This is something she has been waiting many years for. Let her have her moment alone with him when it happens…" Jorge said as he took a seat beside Rook.<br>"I… guess you're right." Rook muttered.  
>"Of course he is." Emile said as he took a seat across from Jorge. "So… when did she arrive?" he asked as he cocked an eyebrow.<br>"Well... shortly after you two left for the lab this morning." Jorge began. "She looked so tired earlier. And… worn. She went to her room for a while before joining me out here and that's when you to showed up." Jorge said with a shrug.  
>"Did she say anything about what happened…?" Rook asked as he failed to hide the concerned tone in his voice.<br>"Yes. She doesn't want me telling you all of it. She only said that it's over now." Jorge said as he took a sip of coffee and sighed.  
>"Well that tells us a lot." Emile said with a huff of annoyance. "At the very least we know she's alive." He said with a shake of his head.<br>They all nodded in agreement and left the room.

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Dante ran down the steps of the lab and flew through the many room until she came to a complete stop by the door that would lead her to her brother.  
>"He's… in here… I can finally see him at last." She said as she leaned her forehead against the door and smiled. She placed her hand on a scanner and the door opened with a slight hiss. The light in the room flickered on and her eyes narrowed in on the crio tube across the room. He was there, floating in the tube as perfect as he had been the day he died. Many tubes adorned his childish body, his naked form a purple hue due to the liquid he was submerged in.<p>

Her footsteps padded almost silently as she walked across the room and to the command console beside the tube.  
>"This is it, Little Brother… we will never be torn apart again." She said as she keyed in a pass code and the tube began to empty its liquid contents into a drainage system. Once the liquid was fully drained and alarm over head began to sound and the tube tipped onto its side, dumping the small child onto a hospital bed beside it. The many tubes and cords attached to him instantly released and left him lying on the bed in a slight sheen of liquid. He didn't breathe or move.<p>

Dante cautiously approached him and slid her fingers through his hair. It was the same shade as hers, an awkward pink color. His skin in some places showed its color to be very pale, others it was hard to tell because of the shine and coloring of the liquid that covered his skin. She smiled and looked into his beautiful childish face; he was perfect down to every last strand of hair.  
>"Soon… it will be all over soon… I promise." She said as her finger tips slid off of him and instantly went to the computer beside her. She began inputting the new information and the A.I code began to upload. She then attached a medium sized machine to his head that clicked into place and began to buzz with life. The information that displayed across the screen lit up green indicating that the final preparations were complete. With the click of a button her brother would finally be back at her side.<p>

She pressed the button and stood back as the machine began to hum louder as even more information pulsed through it and passed on into Riley's brain. In a matter of seconds it was all over. There was a loud hissing and the machine popped off of Riley's head and lay on the bed. The animation process was beautiful. A large glass tank covered the bed from the wall and a hissing sound could be heard followed by the site of a white mist that leaked into the chamber. This would be the antibacterial spray that would ensure that he wouldn't die as soon as he was animated. Next a green light began to flicker on and off as the chamber filled with steam. This was the thermal stage. The body would be heated up to 98.6°F. The steam released out of the chamber and static filled the air as the final pulse was activated. It acted like a defibulator and got the heart started.

The glass shifted away in time for Dante to watch Riley's first breath. It was like a deep sea diver coming up for his first breath of fresh air in a year. He sat up and greedily sucked air into his lungs, his eyes were as wide as a kittens milk saucer. He looked around wildly and his eyes came to rest upon Dante. He panted heavily and his left hand clutched as his chest, trying to steady his heart beat and breathing.  
>"WH-where… what happened… I thought I was dead…? Did my sister save me?" he asked in a rush. The words seemed to tumble out of his mouth. His voice was soft and lacey; it had a deep tone to it.<br>"No… I'm sorry to have to explain this to you…" Dante said softly as she sat at the edge of the bed. "I am Dante. Your sister. You remember that you died… right?"  
>he nodded, a look of sadness coming across his face.<br>"Well… I went on to become a Spartan… I went through a lot to finally come to this place… you don't remember coming to me in my dreams at all I take it…?" she asked as she watched his face and tried to gauge his expression.  
>"I…. yes. I do remember. Vuagly." He said as he looked up at her.<br>"Well… since the last time it has been a year. And the planet is re-built and I have learned many things over my time waiting to finally see you again." She reached out to him, her arms wide open.  
>He lunged into them without hesitation and began weeping into her chest; Dante couldn't help the steady flow of tears that refused to be held. They splashed onto Riley's hair and she laughed.<br>"I've missed you so much… from the moment that monster took you away from me… the only thing I have ever wanted was to finally have you back with me again…" she said as she squeezed him gently.  
>"I-I know… I have… memories of it… you… made me didn't you…? I am and artificial intelligence…" he said with a hint of sadness in his voice.<br>"I cannot deny that… but you are still you. Everything that I could remember I programmed for you… I can never bring you back fully… but this is at least a start…. I gave you memories of my own as well… so that you wouldn't be so confused about everything… so you wouldn't be scared of me." She explained as she stroked his hair.

Riley laughed and looked up at her, a giant smile splayed across his face. "I don't care… so long as I am real enough to finally be with you again… to live… laugh and be myself again… this body… is it fake too…?" he asked as he looked himself over. "It's just that… I look exactly the same…" he said as he examined himself.  
>"no." Dante said with a smile and a ruffle of his hair. "You're body is one hundred percent authentic. I used my own DNA, the closest thing to yours left alive. And made a new body for you. It will grow and you can do with it what you want." She smiled.<br>Riley looked up at her and smiled even more. "I… can't believe we are here… together… now I guess… that you're the bigger sibling…" he said with a small chuckle.  
>Dante laughed and nodded. "Yeah I guess so, which means that I will protect you. No matter what. From now on we will always be together and I won't let anything tear us apart again." She said as she picked him up and kissed his cheek.<p>

Riley giggled and squirmed out of her grasp. He landed on the floor and wobbled slightly.  
>"Don't worry; you will need some time to get used to everything again. I'll be right here beside you every step of the way, don't worry." She reassured as he took her hand and they began walking around the lab.<br>"Um… can I have some clothes?" Riley asked as they passed by a rack of medical lab coats.  
>"Oh… right." Dante said with a nervous laugh and walked him over to a small room with many boxes. "I wasn't sure what you would want to wear so I took the liberty of just buying almost everything that I knew you used to like. Go through the boxes and take whatever you like." She said as she watched over him.<br>He didn't hesitate and opened the first box he came across. Inside he found a pair of silk black shorts, grey briefs, a pair of sandals and a silk white muscle shirt. He began dressing himself when a thought came across his mind.  
>"Did you have sex with someone to make me?"<br>Dante stared at him, her jaw dropping and her eyes bulged. "Riley! No! Are you kidding me!? Of course not! I merely took an egg and sperm and put them in a bio tube. Nothing more! Sheesh… I can't believe you… I get that you're eight… but such a thing… how?" she asked as he finished dressing.  
>"Well… I guess that because my brain is simply a computer based program that I just know stuff." He said with a smile. "It's not like I'm a super smart person or anything. I just know the basics of life already I guess you can say.<br>"I wish you didn't… it's kind of embarrassing." She said with a slight chuckle.  
>"Oh it won't be bad. I promise!" he said as he hugged her around the waist. "I uh… I'm hungry." He said as a loud growl erupted from his stomach.<br>Dante laughed and grabbed his hand. "Okay, I'll take you home and get you something to eat. After that you can meet all of my friends and comrades." She said with a smile.  
>Riley grinned and began pulling on her hand to go faster. She obliged his wishes and began running with him.<p>

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"What do you mean you're retiring and leaving noble base!?" Emile asked as he looked at Dante.  
>"Exactly what it sounds like Emile. I mean… I finally have my brother back and with all the money I have saved up from being in the military I can go and buy a house and not worry about anything…" she explained as she watched Riley scarf down a plate of food. Jorge sat with him and kept an eye over him while Dante talked with the rest of the team.<br>"But… you only just got back… and you're leaving us again?" Rook asked as he looked at her with sad eyes.  
>"Don't look at this like that. I don't mean I'm leaving Reach or anything. I won't even be that far away. I filed for a plot of land just outside the base's land hold. So I'll be walking distance away… you guys have to understand that now that Riley is back all I want to do is be with him…" she said as she looked at them.<br>"But can't you still do all that and not retire…? I mean if you retire you become just a regular citizen don't you?" Buck asked as he watched Rook's expression.  
>"Well… I guess I could… but then that still runs the risk of me having to leave him for reasons like fighting and such…" she said as she leaned against the wall.<br>"yeah but at the same time you can't protect Riley if you don't have any guns… and you know that citizens don't get to have guns, labs, warthogs or any of the stuff that you're used to… and what about your armor? You wouldn't get that anymore either. And think of us… we need you… to be our leader…" Dare said as she looked Dante in the eyes, she wasn't lying when she said they needed her.  
>"You guys… really don't think something like that… I'm sure that Jorge would make a good leader in my absence… don't you?"<p>

Jun shook his head and pointed at Dante. "You. You are a good leader. No one has ever been a better leader aside from Carter… if there is anyone that can lead this team it is you. If you retire then so do I." he said as he crossed his arms and looked at her with a serious face.  
>"Same here." Emile agreed as he nodded and crossed his arms against his chest.<br>"Then we do to." Romeo, Dutch and Mickey said at the same time with nods.  
>Rookie: guess I'm in too, I wouldn't want to be on this team with someone else as a leader, of course this is nothing against Jorge, but who's to say Holland wont chose another leader? I'm out too." He said as he stood beside his fellow ODST members.<br>"I'm out too. It's hard to find someone with good morale standing and good leadership skills." Buck said as he took a step back.  
>"I told you so." Dare said as she shook her head. "You leave then we all leave. A team stays together and that is how it should be."<p>

Dante shook her head and sighed. "Why… why are all of you so keen on keeping me in this team…? I'm not even that great." She said as she shook her head again. "Please... you don't all have to do something like this just because of me…"  
>"Then I guess if you want us all to stay then you will too." Jun said as he nodded.<br>Dante shook her head. "Fine... I won't retire… but I won't stay here either. I'm building my own house…" she said as she scoffed and walked away.  
>"Phew… that was close…" Rook said as he bowed his head. "At least she isn't retiring… that was if anything happens at least she will be able to fight still…" he added as he sat on the couch and covered his eyes.<br>"Who are you kidding Rookie? You're only saying that because you're in love with her." Romeo said as he laughed.  
>"AM NOT!" Rook said as he stood and stormed out of the wreck room.<br>"We hit a sensitive spot." Dutch said with a huge grin and a chuckle.

Riley looked up from his finished plate of cheeseburgers and smiled at Dante.  
>"How much did he eat?" she asked with a chuckle.<br>"About five hot dogs and four cheeseburgers." Jorge said with a laugh. "I guess the boy's growing after all." He grinned.  
>Dante laughed and tousled Riley's hair. "That he is. Riley, we're going to go and draw up some things for a house okay? You can design how you want your room. Whatever you want I'll do for you okay?" she said as she kissed his cheek. He grinned and ran towards Dante's room, leaving them behind.<br>"Don't you think you're going to spoil him?" Jorge asked.  
>"No. not at all… how do you make up for him being dead for the last how many years? You can't. The only thing I can do is give him everything now. This is my way of making up for his death… this will at least make me feel slightly better about it." She said as she looked at Jorge sadly.<br>"I see… just try not to overdo it or anything. Okay?" he asked as she got up and went to follow Riley.  
>"That I won't do. I'm going to do everything I can for him now. Whatever he wants he's going to get…" she said as she walked away.<p>

Riley sat on Dante's bed and drew with a marker on some blank paper. Dante watched over his shoulder curiously. He was drawing out a bedroom from the looks of it and it was fairly empty save for a few book shelves and a chest full of toys.  
>"This… looks like your old room." She said as she watched him draw.<br>"It is… this is how I want it… I want it to be like before I died…" he said with a sad smile. "Like before it got broken."  
>Dante leaned back and looked at the ceiling. He could have everything he ever wanted, but in the end, like her, all he wanted was to have that life back. To forget about everything it seemed.<br>"You know things can never be back that way, right?" she asked as she sighed.  
>"Yeah… but at least for something like this it can be. And I know it will never be the same. But to get the same feeling… to be in something familiar is all I want right now… just like being here with you. Is something that I thought would never again happen… so this is good." Riley said as he rested his head on her stomach. "To… just be with the people you love most…" he said as he drifted off to sleep.<br>Dante closed her eyes and rested a hand on his head. "Me too, Riley. Me too."

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Well there it is… probably long awaited too… I have to say that I really am so sorry… I just had this massive writer's block and whenever I went to write anything on this story my mind just went totally blank. But not now XD so I hope it was worth the wait. To finally have riley join the picture. Hopefully I'll update again soon.


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